


Taken

by TnaversTishcosam



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: M/M, Rise of the Guardians - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-17
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-01-01 20:08:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 30
Words: 125,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1048042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TnaversTishcosam/pseuds/TnaversTishcosam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starts in Antarctica when Pitch tries to sway Jack over to his side. This story follows the relationship between them, and how Pitch bows to the inevitable. I know, I know this is a horribly uninviting summary, but I swear it might be better on the inside. ; )</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Taken

            Pitch Black stood in front of the monument of ice and darkness, a tiny fairy struggling desperately in his tight gray fist. His tall form did little to intimidate his opponent; gray skin, ebony hair and midnight-black clothing matching the professed King of Nightmares perfectly. A malicious sneer was the only thing marring his handsome features. “The staff, Jack! Now hand it over, and I'll let her go.”

            Jack Frost clutched his staff in aggravation, his naturally pale knuckles appearing bone white against the gnarled brown of his staff. His icy blue eyes glared daggers of hate beneath a mop of snow white hair. His lean and tense body was hidden beneath a baggy blue hoodie and beaten brown pants.

Seconds passed, “Don’t make me tell you again.” Pitch squeezed his fist with impatience, making the little fairy squeak out in pain.

           “Allright, allright!” Jack called out frantically. He lowered his staff and walked forward unwilling to look into Pitch’s triumphant eyes, instead focusing on the little fairy, _‘I'm coming for you Babytooth.’ _He flipped the staff around and held the butt end of the staff out to Pitch Black.__

Pitch grabbed hold of it and pulled it out of Jack’s reluctant hand.

Jack felt his unease triple as his staff was taken. “Alright,” he said quietly, “now let her go.” He held out his hand expectantly.

“ No.”

Jack’s eyes snapped up to Pitch’s, his cold lips parted in surprise, and anger.

           “You wanted to be alone,” Pitch sneered “so be alone.” The little fairy squeaked indignantly and stabbed her long pointed nose into Pitch’s hand. He cursed out in pain as he dropped her quickly. She was fluttering in the air trying to unfurl her crumpled wings, when Pitch viciously backhanded her, smacking her tiny form away from him.

            “Babytooth!” Jack called out reaching for her, even as she shot past him. He turned back to Pitch who held his staff in both hands. Jack saw his intentions instantly “Don’t-!” he begged lunging forward as Pitch snapped the staff in two over his knee. Jack gasped as his blue eyes dilated in agony. He clutched his chest as he screamed, his pain ricocheting over the mountainside.

            He fell to the ground writhing in the snow, seeking blindly for any kind of relief from the sharp burning pain that permeated his body. His hand clenching helplessly into the cold yielding snow while sparks of blue flashed around his sweating and shaking body. Bullets of wind peppered the ground around him, causing fountains of snow to fly up ten feet into the air. He twisted and turned, creating strange shallow pathways in the snow, He sucked in air to scream again as he bent nearly in half to fight the pain.

           Pitch stood immobile, watching in surprise as the young sprite screamed in agony. _‘Well,’ _He looked at the pieces of wood in his hand, and then tossed them on the ground as he made his way over to his victim.  
__

Jack saw him coming through the pounding haze in his mind and only one thought was able to reach the surface of his tumultuous mind. _‘Escape.’ _He sucks air in through his ragged throat, “Wind,” he whispers clutching his convulsing body. Jack feels the comforting rush of wind as he was lifted up into the air.  
__

Pitch snarled in anger at the attempted escape, he runs and then leaps in the air towards Jack. Locking his legs around Jack’s torso, Pitch slammed him back into the ground holding Jack’s body down with his own. He pins Jack’s hands in the snow next to his head and lifts an eyebrow mockingly, as if challenging him to try again.

Jack looked up into the free snow flurries in the sky and yelled hoarsely to the only weapon he had left, “Wind, take me home!” The wind came again, and it came stronger, lifting them both steadily up the air.

Pitch could feel the wind trying to pry them apart; he silently commanded his power. Black sand converged over them, forming a smooth curved shield around them, blocking out the wind. They both fell back to the ground again.

Pain flashed white-hot through Jack’s body as Pitch’s full and sudden weight landed on top of Jack when they smashed back to the ground. The wind pounded at the sleek top but couldn’t find a grip. Jack’s heart stuttered in fear when he heard it moan sorrowfully beyond the darkness.

Jack panted heavily in the semi-darkness and cringes violently as the diminishing pain rips through his body. He wants desperately to curl in on himself but pulls against Pitch’s superior strength in vain.

Pitch stares down into Jack’s face and inhales his fear as if it were the aroma of a fine wine.

Jack breathes heavily through his nose and through semi clenched eyes looks at Pitch directly, “Get off.”

“No.” Pitch’s mouth turned upward as the once powerful Jack Frost struggled beneath him.

Jack struggles then cries out in agony as pain rips through his body again, “Pitch, damn it, get off of me! You’ve won allright? Now let– GO!” ¬

Pitch tightens his grip on Frost’s wrists and smiles as he yells in pain. Pitch thins the shield above them just enough to allow his shadow to form on Jack’s face. “Look Jack, a shadow,”

Jack stills and turns to look up into Pitch’s hard golden eyes as the first traces of real fear push past the pain and begin to assault his senses.

Pitch grinds his teeth together in pleasure. It’s been so long, so long since a Guardian had truly feared him. _‘Too long.’ _he thought. He smiles at Jack watching as the understanding and fear settled in.__

Jack couldn’t stop his eyes from flickering to the pale sunlight just beyond Pitch. He searched the skies hopelessly for any hint of the Guardians. _‘Help,’ _Jack could feel himself begin to sink downward as black sand crawled up over the sides of his body. He felt panic flutter around in his stomach. “N–NORTH!!”__

The sand shield over them fully dissolved, giving him one last glimpse of the open skies, before he felt the shadows rise up to cover them. They fell through an ebony tunnel as Jack watched the sky shrink to a small circle before it disappeared altogether. A few moments later Jack felt himself being released, and he fell on a hard surface. He lost his breath for a second when he landed on the hard stone floor. Biting his lip to keep from crying out he curled up, immobile trying to get his body under control; each new painful convulsion jarring his concentration.

Pitch watched his new prisoner trying to beat the pain back for a quick moment then crouched down next to him.

Jack scrunched up and threw himself to the side as much as he could, but he didn’t get far. He immediately felt large hands grab at him, holding him down. “S-stop-”

Pitch ignored his pleas, and quickly pulled out a golden tube from inside Jack’s hoodie. It had a diamond pattern on one side and at the end a picture of a young brown haired boy.

Jack grit his teeth trying to force Pitch's quick hands from his chest. But the weight was too much for him to lift. It was nearly umpossible to focus on anything but the all-encompasing pain.

Pitch stood with the tube in hand, watching Jack as he managed to scoot further from him. He watched him for another moment then turned on his heel and left through the shadows.

Jack clutched his body tightly, astounded at how much pain he could feel at one time. Every single centimeter of his body seemed to be prodded with sharp needle points. Endlessly waiting, hoping that each imagined diminished twinge would become reality; but he was fooled again and again. There was nothing that could hold his attention from the agony that saturated his body; it invaded every part of his senses, engulfing his mind in acute layers of pain.

He fought to remain perfectly still as he forced the gears in his head into motion against the pain that assaulted him. _‘Why did Pitch bring me here? How am I going to get out?’ _He grit his teeth as he tried to remain perfectly still under against the sudden small shocks of pain that appeared throughout his body.__

Hours pass by slowly as the red glow of pain grudgingly receded from his mind. He waited as the intervals between pain grew longer. As the convulsions abated, a sense of intense unease grew causing him to open his eyes in search of enemies. But all was black around him. He grit his teeth as another spasm pulled his muscles tightly. He struggled against it, and fought to open his eyes, looking around once more for anything besides the absolute blackness that surrounded him.

Afraid to invoke another round of pain he had lain perfectly still; but he knew that he would have to risk the pain if he was going to get out of there. He slowly undid his left arm, testing each muscle, just waiting for the pain to come back. He uncurled each finger, un-bent his elbow and then repeated the tedious process with his right arm.

As soon as he could, Jack reached a tremor prone hand down to touch the pouch in the front of his hoodie. His fingers searched the small cavity again and agian but he knew the teeth that held his memories was gone. _'I've risked everything for those and the same day I get my hands on them, I lose them. When I get out of here, I'm going to find those teeth, no matter how long it takes. I _ **will**_ get them back.' _

A few more hours pass while no new tremors occur. _‘There doesn’t seem to be any more pain…’ _Jack paused a moment to really study his surroundings. The floor beneath him was slightly cool to the touch; Jack concentrated on that using the temperature to boost his recovery. "Should have thought of that first thing." He berated himself.  
__

As for the room itself, Jack could distinguish nothing. Everything was cloaked in the same monotonous black; Jack noticed the air was still so he imagined himself to be in some sort of enclosed area. _‘I don’t think Pitch… really would have taken me just to watch me suffocate, there must be another reason.’_

Knowing that he was going to need his legs to get out of here, Jack began to test them out waiting for any pain. He unlocked his right knee, and then slowly extended it, sliding the side of his bare foot along the floor, and then repeated the same slow motions with his left leg. Baring the occurrence of one painful cramp, he turned and was finally able to lay flat against the ground. He stretched his calf muscles and then his thigh muscles. Then finally wiggled each toe and was satisfied with their capabilities.

He by no means was in any position to fight or to even exert a strain on his muscles but he could count on them in an emergency. _‘That’s about all I can count on.’ _He thought to himself. _‘No staff, no wind, no Guardians, I’m– I’m alone.' _Jack clenched his fists to his chest looking around at the impenetrable darkness that surrounded him. Against his will, a memory surfaced, an abandoned alleyway and two tall shapes flashed across his mind, he shuddered as he thought back to the last time he had felt so utterly controlled by his situation.____

He wrenched his thoughts from the past and concentrated on double checking his body for injury or weakness. Time passes slowly and Jack felt himself fighting the urge to close his eyes and succumb to the release of sleep once more. The intense relief in his pain-free state of body, and the darkness around him, all combined to make him drowsy.

“Damn it…” The pain forced his eyes to clench closed once more. He held on to his consciousness with a sweaty hand, afraid that if he let go of it, Pitch would come in and finish him off. He grit his teeth as another sudden wave of pain coursed through his body, he could feel his hold on his mind slipping, he forced his eyes open once more as he gasped in pain. A comforting blackness seemed to creep over his mind, holding him close, offering a temporary reprieve from his hell; a reprieve Jack wanted to turn to.

He fought with himself for a few moments but eventually gave in. He allowed himself to sleep while within the Bogeyman’s grasp for two reasons. First, fighting sleep was a battle that would inevitably lead to defeat. As he didn’t know how long his stay would be, he thought it wiser to take frequent short light naps instead of a forced deep sleep. Second, and he hated to admit it,but even if Pitch did show up, there wasnt much of anything he could do about it. With those two reasons loosely lodged in his mind, Jack’s heavy eyelids closed over drowsy blue eyes.

 _*******************************************************************************************************************************************************_  
Pitch strode in between the shadows and stepped out into the library. He takes off his black cloak to reveal a gray toned chest with well developed muscles and tight black slacks that clothed long lean legs. He threw the dark cloak over one end of a black couch and settled down into an aged brown leather chair.

He thoughtfully turns over the golden tube he had taken from Frost. Even after all these years he still had no idea how to open them. _‘How do I access the memories inside? How can I break him?’ _Pitch thought back to how easy it was to capture Jack Frost after his staff was broken.__

_‘All for a fairy,’ _“It’s his affection that would have done him in every time.” He mused, as he lightly tapped the tube in his hand. He could feel the familiar annoyance gather as he listened to the irritating sound of his victory tool rattling around in this little tube. So close yet so far from his reach.__

_‘I suppose I don’t have to actually see what’s in here, just so long as Frost thinks I can. If he thought I could reveal these memories to him… or destroy them forever– It could lead to very interesting results.’_

He scowled suddenly, _‘No, I'm sure Toothina has spoken to him of the properties of this aggravating box…’ _He examined the youthful face of the boy at the end of the tube._ 'Brown hair and eyes. The same face, disregarding the color.'_ His eyes roamed over Jack’s facial features. _'That same cocky grin, those ignorantly bright eyes, the same clearly defined chin and nose angles. The same impertinent mouth…’ _Pitch thought for a moment or two as a smile began to form in the corner of his mouth.__

Perhaps completely broken was not the way to go after all. After all quite a large amount of damage can be inflicted if you knew where to aim. _‘Perhaps I can use him to destroy the Guardians.’ _He thought for a moment._ ‘I couldn’t just kill him; that would only make the others angry enough to attack immediately. But not so angry that they would attack without thinking. There’s no way I could take them all on at once, even with all the power I’ve gained. I need a way to unbalance them, cloud their judgment. _

He suddenly recalled Jack’s hot blue eyes filled with indignant rage when he had forced him down to the snow. He chuckled to himself. _‘The impudence of that child, telling me to "Get off" ' _Pitch laughed out loud.__

But it had felt so good to feel the real fear coursing through his veins once more. _‘The way it used to be…' _The Guardians had become desensitized to his aura of danger. But Frost had such little individualized interaction with this silent power of his._ ‘It would be easy to make him lose himself in the dark mazes of uncertainty.’_

Still smiling to himself he stood and placed the tube up on a high shelf that was situated to the right of the fireplace. He had meant to instantly turn from the shelf, as was his custom. But it had been so long since he had felt the urge to see that picture that it took him by surprise. He found his body reluctantly following after his eyes, closing the distance between himself and a detailed sketch of a little girl with waist length blond hair and blue eyes. Almost hesitatingly, he picked up the aged frame and held it carefully with both hands.

His long dark fingers gently touched the smooth glass above her smiling face. Pitch’s tall dark form stood near the shelf, with the fire burning by his feet for some time. Staring down at her face, lost in time, as the echoes of dull pain seemed to lacerate his heart, reopening the top layers of the deep wounds she left there. Eventually he re-extended his arm and placed the picture back in its original resting place. He stood a few moments longer just gazing at the image of the happy child.

Then his hand seemed to twitch, calling him back to the here and now. He blinked a couple times then turned his body towards the door while maintaining his gaze. Another brief moment passed and he turned completely. With his cloak slung over one shoulder, he strides purposefully out of the room without looking back once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I got my very first comment, *blushes with happiness* Thank you Ylvglo!  
> I'm having a little trouble formatting my story properly. Is there a way to add indents to my story? Anyone have a few useful formatting tips?


	2. Confinement

Jack's eyes snapped open. He blinked a few times, momentarily startled by the complete darkness while trying to figure out where he was. He gasped as his memory came to him in a flash, _‘Babytooth was taken, my staff was broken –the_ pain,’ He flexed his hand feeling the sharp cramps in his palms and arms from holding his muscles so stiff for so long. _’Pitch dragged me down here–I must have blacked out.'_ He gasped as small shock of pain and disbelief sprinted down his body. _‘Still!? How much longer can the pain last?’_

Jack slowly sat up, careful not to bump into anything that was hidden in the darkness. He couldn’t tell how much time had passed but knew that his decision to sleep was the right one. HHe felt stronger, more alert and better prepared for whatever might happen next. He re-tested all his limbs and was reassured of their normal functionality. He carefully rose to his full height, with one hand cast above his head to guard against any objects hidden in the darkness that surrounded him. _‘Allright, now the hard part.’_

He held out a hand and walked forward into the unknown; his eyes straining to see in the impenetrable darkness.

After a few long and tense moments his hand brushed against the same kind of material that the floor was made of. _‘Probably a wall,’_ He placed his left palm flat against it; it seemed only fractionally cooler than the floor. He placed his right palm alongside his left and slid it around his other trying to discover any differences in the wall that he could exploit. He stepped forward and checked the next section in the same manner. He continued on for quite some time, wary of hidden dangers above and below him, yet hopeful for any means of escape.

Jack’s intense search yielded him little results. As far as he could tell, the place he was in was small, a circular chamber that was somehow carved out of the middle of a gigantic hunk of stone. The ceiling was too high to reach, but the floor and the walls around him were all made of the same sort of uncompromising stone. The only variation between the two, that he could tell, was that the walls seemed marginally cooler.

Jack stood where he was in the darkness and had to admit that he couldn’t find any means of release except that which might be accomplished through his captor. _‘The first thing I have to do is get him in here, at least to talk…’_ Hard on that thought, Jack called out to his enemy. “Pitch? Pitch let me out!” Jack waited in the silence. “Pitch damn it, I said I want out you bastard!”

No one answers. Over the next half hour, Jack called out to Pitch,challanging and insulting him by turns, but the silence continued on undisturbed. He dropped to the floor then leaned up against the wall imagining different scenarios involving his escape. With eyes wide open, he sat still, staring at the dark ceiling and whishing it was a ceiling of stars. His eyes shut out the aggravating sight of seeing blackness, and eventually soft shallow breaths were heard in the chamber.

A few hours later Jack suddenly awoke from his day dream into a nightmare, his mind worked to beat back the remnants of his sleep to focus on the problem at hand. _‘Something isn’t right,’_ Before his mind had fully cleared away the dregs of his dream, he had a firm grasp of the problem. _‘It’s too warm; it’s waaaay too warm!’_ His heart began to pound with a sickening jolt as the possibility of a horribly painful future was quickly becoming a likelier situation. He sat up and clutched at the wall, alarmed as his head spun slightly. The room was still in darkness; Jack didn’t even try to stand up. He wiped his brow and could feel the slight dampness. Only once before had he been this warm; back before he had met the Guardian’s. Before he had properly met the wind.

Flying wherever he had fancied, Jack had accidently been all over the world. Strangely enough the winter spirit found himself inexplicably entranced by the deserts huge dry expanse. Arriving at night from the arctic, he thought he would be able to explore to his heart’s content and be gone before the first rays of light. But the next dune always seemed to reveal something new. A scaly lizard, a tree made of sharp spines, the glorious sunrise. He got caught up in it all, and before he knew it the sun was blazing overhead, and he was caught in the full heat of the desert.

The heat was painful, but now that he was there he was determined to see at least a full day of it. He had always been afraid of staying too long, but the years of intense solitude drove him to extremes; seeking out new experiences, new sensations. Anything to mark the endless passage of time. Jack rose high in to the air and spotted a swath of green in the arid shifting landscape; he made his way into the shaded tree line and was able to keep most of the pain at bay with the warm water he found there.

The heat beat at him relentlessly through the green leafy trees. He gulped handfuls of tepid water and then hid himself under the trees, watching the way the light brightened on the golden sand, the way creatures would come to the same oasis and drink from the same water. Small desert foxes, seemed to be especially plentiful. Jack leaned against a tree with his staff held loosely in his hands across his lap and watched the animals approach with some caution, unused to the winter sprites scent.

Jack loved the moment when they realized he was there. It was like a little shot of medicine to a long suffering patient. His existence was confirmed and acknowledged. _‘I am here… I do exist.’_ He looked fondly at the small animals _‘If only animals could talk, everything would be so much easier.’_ His bitter expression fell into place easily.

Hours later Jack found himself blinking the sleep from his eyes; wincing as his sunburned arms shifted. The sun was just reaching its zenith. He could feel the sweat pooling and evaporating beneath him. _’I'll just wait until the nighttime temperatures arrive, then get out of here.’_ Still, the beauty around him was new, and therefore all the more alluring. The sand seemed to be made of gold that had been reduced to a fine powder, the gleaming hues seemed to dance at a distance, flickering before his eyes. The bright blue of the sky was almost painful to look at.

Hours pass slowly as the temperature seems to rise even higher. Jack was now beginning to regret coming to the desert in the first place; although, for once, he wasn’t wallowing in his solitude.

At long last, after hour upon hour of torrid heat, the sky finally began to fade into darker hues. Jack breathed easier. _‘I can make it; I’ll outlast these wretched temperatures and get out of this heat!’_ The sky was becoming darker by the minute, with tiny pinpricks of white light appearing above him.

Beneath the blazing sun, Jack had waited for the Arabian moon to rise over the dimming sand dunes. The idea of flying through the heat drenched sky had kept him close to the ground _‘Surely the temp will drop more, it can’t be this hot the whole night.’ _So Jack had waited, and waited. Until he realized that dawn was closing in on him, and that the significant drop in temperature which he was waiting for so anxiously had not appeared and wasn’t going to. _‘...I’ve got to get out of here, now before the sun comes up.’ _He licked his lips to wet them. _‘I have to ask the wind; I won’t make it another day.’_ Suddenly he heard the faint call of bells. He saw through hazy eyes a strange looking sled with wings attached to it. It was being pulled by four giant horned animals. They seemed so far away. He blinked and suddenly saw a big man in red steadily walking towards him. ____

Disbelief made him doubt his eyes so he looked again. The figure were still too far away to make out any of the facial features (other than his white beard), but he was wearing a thick red coat, trimmed in dark colors. The pants he wore were the color of chimney soot, _'Why is that old man walking around in the desert with that thick ass coat?' _Jack blinked once to think through the painful haze, trying to maintain his increasingly intensive stare._ 'Something...about this guy...What is it? Who are you?' _A strange sense of knowledge had come to him; he felt something, some kind of connection with that person. Something which he thought must be close to kinship._ 'But how can that be? I've no idea who this person is...but, he's not normal. Maybe I should...' _His throat was dry as the sand around him, and couldn’t get any kind of sound to issue forth without immense pain. He glanced back at the older man’s eyes and realized that he was looking towards him. It was an eerie sensation…to be looked at by anybody. Even the animals who sensed his presence could never look him in the eye except by accident. But this man who was steadily approaching him looked as if he was purposely watching him. His gaze never wavered too long, always returning to Jack’s flushed face.  
__

Jack nervously looked up into the sky, closing his eyes against the hot breath of the desert, he tried to force his call for help between his lips. suddenly he felt himself lifted into the air. He opened his eyes and realized that he was not being lifted by the wind but instead, by the absurdly strong elderly man who was suddenly right next to him. _‘He sees me?! He sees me!!’_ Jack grabbed onto the man’s thick red coat with a grip of death, his eyes struggling to remain open against the bright reflective glare of the big man’s snow white beard. _‘It’s real, this is real!’_ Before he could stop himself he tried to speak, but nothing intelligible came out, just a dry rough sort of grunt.

"Don’t try to talk yet.”

_'He can hear me too!?' _The sensations he had felt in that moment were hard to define. Beyond happiness, beyond amazement. Border lining on a strange sort of fear. The images before his eyes seemed to sway, and he clutched the red coat as hard as he could with the sense that his grip was only lessening. He could feel his eyes fighting to close down against his protests, but throughout it all the strongest sense of gratitude permeated his body and soul. He reveled in the idea that there was someone else who could see him. Who was the strange savior? Where did he come from? Did he now regret staying to the desert? He couldn’t decide, couldn’t think of anything besides the explosive expansion of his heart and mind. But the happiness of a single moment cannot blot out the darkness of the numerous years.__

Thankful as he was, he still kept his caution wrapped tightly around him. He had no idea who this person was, or if they meant him good or ill. His eyes closed with uncertainties chasing the endless “What If” questions through his mind. He awoke to a cool breeze on his face. He was propped up against something that was both hard and soft, but it felt familiar somehow. His blue eyes roamed greedily over a great expanse of white, a deliciously cold expanse of white. _‘I’m home,’_ Jack stared before his eyes were caught by a red coat.He quickly turned his head and saw the same big man in red crouched in front of him.

"Ahh, you awake now. Is good.”

Jack’s attention sharpened on the big man who was holding out a gleaming metal cup filed with water. Jack reached for it but winced harshly in pain as his arms stung.

"I told ya we should have gotten the ointment first,”

Jack started horribly at the bodiless voice and had to bite his tongue to stop himself from crying out as the pain from the desert burns made itself known. After a couple of seconds Jack was able to beat back the pain, but the curiosity was unmanageable. He wanted desperately to twist around and see who he was so close to him but pain forbade it; and he couldn’t even ask!

The big man in red got Jack’s attention once more and brought the cup closer to Jack. “I'm going to place one of your hands on my arm. Tap me when you have enough. Don’t take too much at once, is better to take smaller sips at first.”

Jack sat very still as he reached for his hand, causing his attention to sharpen to an almost painful point. Against his will, he felt himself becoming afraid. No one has ever been able to touch him, yet this giant of a man was reaching out for him casually, so reassured in his ability to make contact.

Jack’s eyes flicked between the quickly approaching hand and the strangers soft blue eyes. He wanted to speak, he wanted to object, to urge him to go faster, to just get it over with.

The big man in red had almost reached him.

Jack’s heart beat shot upward as he was able to sense the heat from the others hand, still inches away. It increased even more when he realized that this would be the first time he had ever been able to touch someone else. _‘What does someone else’s skin feel like?’_

The bearded man could see the growing unease in Jack’s stiff posture and he paused. “Are you alright?” He saw Jack’s eyes were wide with apprehension but couldn’t fathom the reason why.

Jack couldn’t speak. Wouldn’t know how to explain his irrational fear even if he could. Why was he afraid when all his hopes and dreams were about to come true? Why was his fear mounting even higher when he looked up into those concerned blue eyes?

Black boots crunched into the snow as the big man sat back on his heels “I understand that you might not be able to speak well because of the pain in your throat, but you can answer with gestures instead of words. Is that alright?”

Jack’s gaze seemed to bore into the older man's strong blue eyes, wanting to gather together the strength he saw there. But still the unease remained.

Jack felt his anger rise. _‘What is wrong with me!?’_ He wanted to scream his agreement, he wanted to scream his refusal. He looked down trying to gain control of himself. _‘He won’t hurt me. He won’t hurt me,’_ He wanted to believe it so much, it ached to consider that the big man might not. _‘He saved me from the desert. He saved me, so he won’t hurt me… I want to know him just a little…’_ Jack lifted his arm and saw his fingers trembling before him. He grits his teeth in frustration and shame but continued on.

He saw how hard the teen was struggling and held out his bare hand, palm side up, waiting for him. He saw his discomfort and glanced back at his companion‘s large and concerned green eyes.

Jack fought against his fears, and hovered his small pale hand over the others big calloused one. Jack watched with trepidation as he forced himself to lower his fingertips towards the large fingertips. His hand trembled, he couldn’t help it, he snatched his hand back.

The disappoint was apparent but the big man tried to hide it. “It’s allright, it’s allright.” He thought for a moment. “We’ll do it this way. Instead of touching, you can just tug on my coat if you want to stop. Allright?”

Jack felt horrible. The first person who could see him, hear him, and touch him, and here he was, pushing them away! He couldn’t bear to look up and see those hurt blue eyes so with his head bent down, he nodded at the snow.

"I know these things can take time, do not feel bad because you are not ready.” He once more brought the polished cup to the others lips and carefully tipped some of its contents into hismouth.

After only a few sips Jack tugged and the cup was immediately removed. He swished the cool water in his mouth then swallowed a tiny portion wincing as it went down his scorched throat.

The voice behind Jack spoke again, “You should at least send someone to snag the ointment, while he’s recovering. I can’t stay here for long, I'm needed at the Warren.”

Jack felt his hard and painfully familiar reality crash back down around him. Both of these beings were able to see him and even more amazingly seemed to want to help him, but they had their own lives to live. Would he ever see them again? Jack swallowed his water and weakness. If these beings were going away then he needed his strength to make it by himself. He braced himself for the probable pain and managed to cough out one scratchy word. “Staff?”

“I have it here.” The big man reached beside Jack, picked up the staff from beside him and handed it to him.

Jack gripped the staff gratefully and used it to try to stand.

The being behind him wrapped his arms around Jack and tugged him back down, forcing him against his chest. “Hold on there, mate, you’re not goin' anywhere yet,”

Jack froze as his heart began to pound away in his chest.

“Bunny! What did I tell you?” The bigger man scolded, annoyed at his choice of words even after his warnings.

"I didn’t mean it like that!” The other voice defended.

Jack however, had heard enough. _‘I knew it!’_ He thought wretchedly as he viciously held back his tears. He gritted his teeth at the pain in his heart and body and twisted his arms, trying to free himself.

But his captor was quick to snatch him back. “Will you calm down? Bloody hell!” He spoke quickly to Jack as he held him immobile against his chest, “If you get up now, it’s going to hurt, a lot, just be patient a little while and you will feel much better. I swear we don’t mean you any harm.”

Jack listened with not even half of his mind. He was staring down at the arms of his captor that were wrapped securely around his midline. They were an astonishingly beautiful shade of …blue…and they were furry… and only had four fingers. Jack thought back to the other's earlier exclamation. _‘He called him Bunny, but it couldn’t–possibly be…a real…’_

Jack couldn’t explain it to himself then and has never really been able to understand it, but at that moment he had looked up at the bigger man for reassurance. It wasn’t something he actively thought about, it just happened naturally, like instincts.

The bigger mans scowl of annoyance morphed into a smile of reassurance. “You are safe with us, Bunny is just a little bit over protective”

“Oy! You’re the one who dragged me away from the Warren. Easter is in two weeks mate, Two weeks! Why did you have to get me at all?”

“Because you are the one who can help him the most, it is no fault of mine you exude healing abilities. Blame it on your genes. Besides, would you have turned him down?”

“Of course not!”

Jack gripped his staff tighter and listened to the two of them talk. He haltingly leaned back against the softness, reassured in his freedom and tried to absorb the fact that he had finally found someone who could see him. Two in fact. He wished he could see the one he was leaning against. Suddenly his train of thought derailed and crashed into a burning heap of metal as he realized that he was leaning comfortably against someone else. _‘I didn't feel awkward or anxious when I didn’t know! Why do I suddenly feel like I'm going to crawl out of my skin if I don’t get some distance?’_ Jack immediately straightened his spine and sat up as much as he could.

“More water?” the man in red offered.

Jack turned his attention to him grateful for anything that could distract him from the intensified unease. He nodded once, struggling to hide his discomfort. “Yeah,”

Both of the newcomers smiled at his verbal response and once more brought the cup to Jack’s cracked lips. He tilted the cup back and Jack was able to gulp down the liquid much more freely.

Jack tilted his head back slightly, resting it against the soft but strong shoulder of the mysterious “Bunny” as the relief seeped into his aching throat.

Bunny, the being behind him, spoke again “We need that ointment, you hold on to the flake and I'll get it. I can go much faster than the yetis.”

the other nodded.

Jack felt himself being lifted from the softness, the big blue fingered hands handling him carefully. Jack could feel Bunny moving behind him then big hands holding him up. Jack turned and thought he saw a flash of blue, but the only thing he could see clearly was a small green plant with white upturned bell shaped flowers. _‘Growing in the desert?’_

The bigger man smiled happily and knew that he would be confused and quickly offered an explanation, “Whenever Bunny opens a portal, a flower appears.”

Jack looked up at him incredulously. “A portal?”

“Yes.” He carefully placed Jack on the ground waiting to see if he was able to stand on his own.

Jack felt his toes slide into the snow easily. “How does he do it?”

He shrugged “It just happens.” _‘But still’_ he thought, _‘a white heather plant?’ _His expression clouded over for an instant then cleared._ ‘Ah.’ _He glanced at his charge,_ 'white heather, the symbol for protection.'_

Jack gripped his staff as a breeze blew by him, he felt himself lift slightly with the wind.

He moved forward slightly “I'm allright,”

“Are you sure?”

Jack nodded once, and felt large hands let go of his shoulders.

The man in red watched him carefully as he stepped out into the snow. He seemed reassured when he stayed on his feet. Until Jack crumpled to the snow. “Hey!” he called out but then paused to watch him as Jack waved a hand over his shoulder in reassurance.

Jack kneeled in the snow then began caking it on his arms. The sensation at first was painful but after a few intense moments the pain diminished. Jack buried his legs in the snow while the other watched fascinated.He walked over to him when Jack shook off the snow from his arms. He squatted next to him and gazed at the smooth paleness of his skin, without any sign of sunburn.

Jack looked up into those focused blue eyes, as his arm was being studied. He wanted to speak, but was somehow unable to. After a few minutes of fruitless endeavors, he stood up and after backing up a few paces, turned to face him.

He was still wearing that huge red overcoat but looked much less out of place here in the icy tundra than it did in the desert. His thick white beard shined as brightly as the snow around them; his eyes were as clear and blue as a cloudless day. He could feel his heart beat steady a bit just by looking at him. _‘The snow and the sky…’ _that’s what he thought of as he looked at the man before him.  
__

Jack felt almost like his old self again, most of his pains were already gone, and the others were quickly fading. He gazed upon the other's ruddy face and had so many questions he wanted to ask. So many things he wanted to know, that they crowded his mind and held his tongue silent. Knowing that there were others who could see him, after all this time, was overwhelming. He needed some space to absorb it all. “Wind.” He called. Jack rose up a few feet in the air.

“Thank you for your help,” Jack glanced around at the heather that was still happily bloomed out over the shifting yellow sand.

The other stared at Jack as he sat in the curve of a breeze. _‘Remarkable.’ _He quickly pulled himself back together as he could tell that Jack wanted to put some distance between them. “I'll tell Bunny of your thanks.”  
__

Jack nodded and lingered a little longer, afraid to leave his side in case he should disappear.

“We will always be here if you need us. Bunny and myself.”

Jack could hardly believe his ears. “R-Really?”

“If you need me, my home is to the North.” He smiled, “My name too is North and you are?”

Jack licked his lips once in anticipation, as his dreams were coming true before his very eyes, “Jack, Jack Frost.”

“If you ever need us Jack,”

Jack clutched his staff to his chest, as his head seemed to float away on a cloud of giddiness. Bewildered at the big man’s kindness and unsure how to repay him, Jack could only stutter his thanks, before rising up and flying off towards the evening sky.

Sitting in the solitary darkness of his prison, Jack longed for a similar rescue, but couldn’t believe they would come for him, after he had deserted them to find his memories, when he should have been there to defend Hope from Pitch’s nightmares. _‘Pitch… Why is he doing this? I'm not a threat anymore as my powers are gone. I can’t give him any information because I'm not a Guardian, never was. They probably don’t even want me around anymore… not that I can blame them.’ _He lay back against the floor with the familiar thoughts of guilt weighing him down. Sitting in the hollow of stone, Jack glanced around at the darkness that now surrounded him. He couldn't stop the ironic smile that grew across his dry lips as he recalled how the blackness had comforted him that time in the desert, How it had given him a measure of strength and will to live. He had waited for it with such eager impatience! _'Now look at me.'_ He held up an invisible hand in the darkness, then lowered it to his chest. As time went by, he dozed in and out of a sweaty haze as his apprehension rose with his temperature.__


	3. The message

       Hours later, Jack feels himself floating back to consciousness. Every inch of his skin was slick with sweat. He knew he should remove his hoodie, but he was loathe to part with it, his one remaining connection to the Guardians. _‘and the exertion alone would be exhausting...But it’s sooo hot…’_ He licked his lips and tasted salt. Jack pushed himself off the floor, and leaned against the wall resting from the exertion it took just to sit up in the oppressive heat.

        After a few moments he grabbed the bottom hem of his blue hoodie _‘I’ve just got to do it quickly. Like a band-aid._ He hooked his hands under his hoodie and pulled the wet fabric off his body. Jack cringed as it slapped loudly against the floor, then moved over four or five feet and lays back down on a dry portion of the stone floor. With feet pressed up against the cooler stone on the wall, he stares up into the darkness and had nothing to focus on except how uncomfortable he felt. Hours pass in silence. Jack wiped the sweat from his brow again and again.

       Dressed in his usual dark cloak, Pitch stepped out of the shadows and stops, one eyebrow raised. “Really Frost, I had no idea you carried a torch for such dramatics.”

      Jack surged up to his feet in sudden alarm. He blindly reached for the wall in front of him as the world tilted crazily, pressing his sweaty hand against the stable wall to balance himself. “Ugh…” his eyes clenched closed, he clutched his head while the world spun around him.

       Holding the sweater tightly in one hand to his chest, Jack felt his other hand begin to slide down the smooth stone. The sudden imbalance made him stumble and fall forward, his shoulder collided against the wall. His legs were weak beneath him, they struggled to support him. With his back against the wall he looked out into the darkness trying to perceive Pitch’s whereabouts in the darkness, but could distinguish nothing. His knees buckled and he slinks back to the floor, his left hand shot out to steady himself, but it wasn’t enough. His forearm was immediately forced to the floor, using it as a prop to keep him off the ground. He keapt one eye open looking for any hint of golden orbs to give away Pitch’s location in the darkness.

        Sweat drips down Jack’s nose as the silence lingers. His head leans downward too heavy for him to lift. His arm bends slightly in the middle and he could feel himself leaning forward at a perilous angle. “Damn–”

       Jack curled his left hand into a fist, and viciously fought to remain upright, but his muscles were too unbalanced by the pervading heat. Before he could completely collapse, he carefully lowered his head to the floor in defeat. He was breathing heavily when his eyes seemed to close of their own accord. _‘Not that it matters,’_ he thought. He couldn’t see Pitch in the blackness around him anyway. Breathing through his mouth Jack could no longer tell which way was up, he felt nauseas, his head ached, and the world seemed to be spinning at increasingly crazy angles around his head.

Pitch watched him with indifference then walked forward and nudged Jack with his booted foot, pushing him onto his back.

Jack curled his body inward waiting for the next point of contact.

       Unlike Jack's eyes, Pitch’s were able to see very well in the darkness. They were drawn to Jack’s left hand which was clenching a familiar hoodie resolutely. _‘Hmm….’_ His gaze wanders slowly from Frost’s closed eyes to his parted lips, and lingers on his sweaty neck, down his bare chest and to the hem of his sweat soaked pants. When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter, and deeper than it had been for a long time, “What is the problem _?”_

Jack didn’t bother to answer.

Pitch crouches down and sees the flushed face and sweaty skin. _‘Must be hard to be that out of your element… I wonder if it hurts.’_ He smiled evilly and smacked Jack’s arm once.

       Jack winced, but made no response, until Pitch lifted him up in his arms. He immediately wanted down, but his body wasn’t listening to him. In fact, he had to tell himself not to curl up against Pitch’s relatively cool chest. His mind flashed back to North in the desert when he had saved him _‘That would not be happening any time soon, you have to forget them.’_ He had to swallow thickly past the sudden lump in his throat. _‘What’s going to happen to me?’_ Pitch stepped through the shadow portals and out on to a white mountainside.

       The cold wind raked across Jack’s skin like cruel icy knives “Fuck!” Frost convulsed twice in Pitch’s arms, curling his knees up to his chest trying to hide from the harsh wind, as his body reacted violently to the extreme temperature differences.

Pitch looks at the shaking form in his arms and drops him, unrepentant into a pile of snow.

       The sharp coldness slammed into Jack’s body like a sledgehammer. He gasped as his heated skin seemed to sizzle like oil in a hot pan. In that moment Jack would have begged for a solid week of dry desert heat compared to the hot sizzle of his own sweat on his skin. He could only grind his teeth against the torture, as the once longed for coldness whipped cruelly against his body.

Pitch leaned down to lift him again. 

       Jack saw his long gray arms reaching for him and ignoring the probability of intense agony, threw himself to the left, rolling over two times out of Pitch’s reach. He clenched his teeth together as his body seized again but manages to keep both eyes on his enemy as his skin healed with agonizing slowness.

Suddenly Jack paused as his location finally made its way past the thick clouds of pain and confusion.He climbed to his feet as hope burst across his face.“Wind!!”

Pitch tensed, sand at the ready, but nothing happened.

        Jack looked up at the sky waiting for the winds embrace, but there was no response. His eyes darted across the skies searching for any sign of his one remaining ally. The free breeze blew past him without any kind of recognition; _'Why? Why can't I...? My strength- why am I unable to reach it now?'_ Jack's eyes grew empty as desolation dropped him to his knees; for once, unable to find any measure of comfort in the cold snow. _'I am all alone now.There is nothing left.' '_ The grip on his hoodie slackened.

Pitch was watching Frost carefully as he kneeled immobile in the snow. He was wide open and vulnerable to almost any attack, but Pitch waited to see how he would react. _'What will you do when you have nothing left?'_

The two of them were silent as the snow swirled between them.

        The hoodie was slipping from Jack's numb fingers. He wondered at the desire to tighten his grip on it.  _'Why should I? Why should I hold onto something I'll never have again? They accepted me when I had powers because they wanted another gGardian, but now...how can I even hope they would ever want me without them? I want to get out of here, away from this place. I can't depend on them to save me anymore, I can't depend on anyone to save me...other than myself.'_ Jack gripped the hoodie back to his chest _'Even if they don't want me, even if they do hate me now, I wont let that tarnish my memories of them. It could be, in time that they may speak to me again, but for now'_ He turned to watch Pitch with closer scrutiny as he reached out a hand to bury it in the snow. _'For now, I've got to save myself.'_ He could feel the stinging of the cold against his skin, but it was familiar, it was the sensation of accelerated healing. _'At least I've still got that_ ,' He buried his free hand as deeply as he dared go, absorbing all the healing he could while still being able to move quickly, should Pitch choose to come after him.

       Pitch was watching Frost critically, he glances again to the hoodie that Jack still held resolutely against his chest. He had fully expected him to crumple to the snow, all will to live gone from his limbs, but he had perservered and won out. He began to walk towards him. _‘He may still depend on the Guardians too much, but...he is a bit stronger than I thought.’ _  
__

Jack saw him approach with no small amount of frustration. _‘Why is he still pursuing me?!’_ He waited a few more seconds than threw himself to the side again managing to go almost twice the distance he first had. He rolled to a stop and quickly scooped up a handful of snow and held it in his mouth sucking out all the ice cold water he could; healing his bruises from the inside out.  _  
_

Pitch was surprised again at his power but not displeased. It wouldn’t be any fun to overcome a weak enemy. “Where do you think you are going?” he asked softly.

Jack didn’t bother to give a response as he swallowed another handful of snow and then formed a hard ball of white in his hands.

       Pitch suddenly rushed towards Jack, quickly creating a portal a few feet in front of him just as Jack hurled the cold projectile with amazing aim. The snowball flew into the portal and with an easy flick of the mind, Pitch reopened it a few feet behind Jack.

The snowball Jack had formed came pelting out of it and hit him squarely in the back of his head. He was knocked over with a ringing in his ears.

Pitch created another portal a few feet beyond Jack, and without slowing down scooped him up into his arms and rushed through it.

jack twisted and turned snarling  at Pitch's touch. “Let the fuck go!”

       Pitch ignores his exclamation and maintains his grip on him commenting snidely, “Too hot, too cold, maybe I should just call you Goldilocks from now on.” Pitch steps out of the shadows and deposits Jack in a different chamber, one much colder. It has an end table, a bed and a bench, and up in one corner a lantern that gave off a soft but pervasive pale light. Pitch drops him on the bed and then goes back the way he came.

       Jack jumps up and stands waiting for the attack that would surely be coming. A few moments later, Pitch reappeared with 3 large spheres of black sand; Jack watched in mistrustful astonishment as each sphere cracked open and spilled cold white snow on the stone floor heaping it into corners.

      Jack stood, his knees slightly bent, watching Pitch as the snow was dropped; waiting for the next trick, he feels his strength returning just by the drop in temp. He and Pitch lock gazes. “Why are you doing this?” Jack demanded.

Pitch shrugged “If you died, I’d have no one to take my revenge out on.” He moves towards the wall, clearly intending to leave.

Jack quickly chased after him. “You can’t just keep me here!” He yelled.

       Pitch swiveled around, snagged Jack’s outstretched arm and hurled him into a pile of snow in the furthest corner of the room. “Of course I can, it’s not like anyone is going to come for you.” He turns to the wall and laughing passed through it.

      Jack recovered quickly from the painful fall, shot back up to his feet and ran after him, his fists beat against the thick stone, “Pitch! Pitch let me out right now! You can’t keep me in here! ...Pitch? Pitch!!” Jack looks around in fury determined to escape, he quickly glanced around his room for any means of flight.

He was surrounded by pure stone; there was no escape. “Son of a bitch.” He viciously mutters.

        Babytooth was whizzing through the air as fast as her little emerald wings could carry her. She had awoken hours after Pitch had backhanded her, and immediately set out looking for Jack.

Knowing that he would not have left without her, she searched for him, flitting all over the mountainside. Next she circled Jack’s pond near Burgess, but he was nowhere to be found.

      Something was wrong, she could feel it with each quick beat of her little heart; she had to get to her Captain. Knowing that the Guardians were facing the renewed challenge of defeating Pitch, she flew straight towards the most likely place to find her-the Pole.

      The icy wind pushed past her, numbing her delicate green wings, but she kept on. After hours had gone by she finally caught sight of the welcoming yellow lights reflected on the snow from the workshop at the North Pole. Invigorated with eagerness, she raced in through one of the open windows and started searching every room, calling for her captain.

       She darted throughout the toy shop, the reindeer loft and then into one of the main living rooms, and there she found her Captain speaking with the other Guardian’s about their next counterattack. Babytooth flapped her little wings and seemed to magically appear before them. She immediately launched into her story, trying to get in as much as possible.

The Tooth fairy was shocked. “Babytooth! Where have you been all-? Wait, wait, wait,” She shook her head “I can’t understand a thing you‘re saying. Slow down.”

      Nearly in tears now with her desire to find Jack, Babytooth began all over again explaining what happened in Burgess. How Jack was lured away, and about how Jack had given his staff to Pitch to save her life.

Tooth’s eyes were burning darkly as she quickly related the whole of it to her teammates, “She says the last thing she remembered before she blacked out was Jack reaching for her.”

North crossed his arms in thought. “So we don’t actually know where Jack is now,”

Tooth nodded her head, “But she is adamant, and I agree, that Jack would not leave without even searching for her.” Tooth paused, “Unless…”

North paled slightly, “Unless he didn’t leave willingly.”

There was a collective hush as the dark implications settled in their minds.

“Pitch.” Bunny spat the word out with venom.

Tooth stood, “What would Pitch want with Jack?”

“Who cares?” Bunny demanded, “We have to get him away from that monster.” He turned to North. “Get your sleigh.”

North stood “Is better to arrive together we should all take sleigh.”

“Fine, fine just _go_.”

Tooth fluttered in front of them “Wait!”

North’s eyes blazed in anger, “We must go now, at once!”

       Bunny was right behind him but Tooth cut them off before they had taken three steps. “Stop. We must think about this first.” She glanced between the two of them determined to make her argument valid in their eyes. “Pitch has grown in strength while we have only grown weaker, we must attack this problem forcibly but with sense.”

Bunny clacked his boomerangs together in one hand. “What do you suggest? Just leave him there while we sit around sipping cocoa chatting about our options!?”

“Of course not,” She snapped back “but we need a feasible plan. Jack would not appreciate our coming to his rescue only to end up becoming prisoners ourselves." Her voice quited. "Can you imagine what would happen?”

      Silence held sway as North and Bunny furiously tried to figure out a valid counter argument, but her reasoning was sound. “Tooth is right.” North sighed at her annoying accuracy. “We need a plan.”

Bunny grudgingly resheathed his boomerangs.

Babytooth was NOT happy. Jack needed their help _now._ She jumped up and began squeaking to them, urging their haste.

Tooth held her small form in her cupped hands. “I know it’s hard, but this is best, it's for Jack’s sake.”

She stomped her tiny little foot in anger, Jack was suffering now, they didn’t have the time to think about it. She chirped her disapproval loudly, but her captain just shook her head.

“But it won’t do any good if we get caught or killed before we can get Jack out.The situation could become so much worse.”

Babytooth crossed her tiny arms and turned from her for a moment, marshalling her thoughts.

     After another brief span of time,  She flew up and squeaked in front of her face gesturing with her hands. Tooth listened but was shaking her head after the first few words. “We need to leave with a plausible plan in mind, if we go now, our emotions will lead us into danger. We can get there quickly, so it is better to think of a plan here while we can be still and sensible. ”

Babytooth dropped her eyes and flew from the room.

Tooth watched her leave then turned to the others. “She wants to go after Jack right now.”

       The other two Guardian’s nodded in understanding. Years of hearing living and working alongside the Tooth fairy had taught them to always wait for an explanation before acting on only half of a conversation. ALWAYS. Bunny managed to suppress a shiver at the horribly embarrassing memories.

       Babytooth meanwhile had flown out of the meeting room and through the workshop until coming upon one of the windows that Jack liked to occupy. She settled down and watched the flakes swirl outside wishing he was there.

She tried to reconcile her rebellious feelings by repeating to herself that her captain would do her best for him. She watched a flurry of snow kick up into an ice tornado and resolved on staying put until her direct help was required. Or until it was best for Jack. Or until she just couldn’t stand it anymore. She felt okay justifying any of those reasons.


	4. Loss

           Jack cracked open an eye and rubbed the sleep from their corners. When he had last closed his eyes he had laid himself down in the snow. Now as he looked around his “room” dismay settled in; the original amount of snow had lowered significantly during his sleep.

            He had instantly known the temperature of the room wouldn’t be enough to keep the snow here, and as the snow decreased the temperature could only increase. He smacked the ground sharply in frustration, trying to figure out Pitch’s game. _‘Bring me to the edge of death, save me, and repeat as desired.’_ He shook his head. _‘What, the fuck.’_ He sighed heavily, breathing in the cool air.

            He turned over carefully stretching out the stiff muscles in his arms and back. He sat back against the wall and took stock of his _temporary_ prison. He knew he would get out; it was only a matter of when. He thought back to that brief breath of free air when Pitch had dropped him in the snow. _'My powers are gone.'_ He touched the snow by his hand  and felt the familiar tingle of iciness run up his limbs. _'But at least I can still heal.'_     

        The bed was ten or so feet in front of him, its smooth sheets and plump pillows had called to him, but Jack chose the floor over the tempting bed. A sort of non-verbal “Fuck you” to the man who had dared to hold him.

            The end table was to the right of the bed, it had only a large polished silver carafe to grace its smooth top. The end table, just like the bed seemed to be solid mahogany. The lamp in the top corner was wrought with silver, it's center was a tinted white, that seemed to turn yellow as it projected outward

            Jack rested his head against the stone wall and waited.

            And waited,

            And _waited_ ,

 _‘How long am I going to have to just sit in here? How long- oh Moons, what if he means to just leave me here?’_ His heart contracted once as a wave of fear rushed through his body, causing the hairs on the back of his nape to stand on end. _‘What if he just leaves me here in this dark  hole, alone…’_ his body seemed to shrink inwards. Suddenly, he remembered a quote that he had read off a store front window in Burgess. _‘Boredom can be a lethal thing on a small island.’_

            He was not comforted _. ‘Thank you, mind.’_ He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. _'Pitch said he wasn't going to kill me, because he would have no one to take his revenge on, but should I believe him?'_ He stood up to relieve the stiff joints after what seemed like hours of waiting. He walked from one end of the room to the other, (twenty paces in all) griping internally about his situation. Then sat back down and waited some more.

            _‘There’s just nothing to do!’_ His eyes roamed mindlessly over the now achingly familiar furniture and suddenly stopped. His eyes settled on the end table and saw that it had a little drawer. “Aha!” He pounced on the mysterious drawer with the enthusiasm of a rock star pouncing on a tube of eyeliner. His hand was on the small silver handle and was about to pull the drawer open when he  noticed behind the carafe was a small circle of light on the wall, steadily glowing about 3 and a half feet above the end table. Jack reached and as he passed his fingers over it, the light jumped to his hand.  He looks up at the ceiling and sees a beam of moonlight coming from it; He jumped up on the bed to get a closer look. He could just make out little indents in the left hand corner of his ceiling. He looked back to see the spot of light on the wall, and held out his hand again to hold the pale light.

 _‘It’s moonlight…’_ suddenly his heart quickened with hope. _‘If moonlight can get here maybe–’_ “Wind?”

            Jack could not help the hope that had bloomed within him, he wanted his strength back desperately. He waited with open ears and a half hopeful heart, but no sound from the outside could be heard _._

He glanced back at the pale light that was settled in his hand.

His hand closed angrily in the pale light. _‘Is this what you planned for me? Is this why you made me what I am, why you put me here? To suffer alone? To die alone?’_ He snatched his hand away from the silent moon beams as the anger ran hotly through his veins.

            Jack spent another moment looking up at the ceiling, visualizing the moon and starry sky just beyond the stone walls.

            He examined the ceiling with his eyes, wishing he was able to run his hand along the ceiling to feel the strange divots. He couldn’t see them clearly, and as he had no means of satisfying his curiosity, jumped down from the bed and threw himself into the miniature snow banks. He pushed the matter from his mind, and burrowed down to get as much strength from his element as he could, he knew it wouldn’t last forever.

            Several hours later, Jack opened his eyes to find the bottom half of his body on the hard stone floor and his back, shoulders and head on a small slope of snow. His whole body ached from sleeping in such an uncomfortable position. Jack can’t help the little thrill of fear that raced up his spine, but tries to ignore it, knowing that it is exactly what Pitch wants; instead he sets about pilling the remaining snow into one corner.  Jack wormed his way to the center of snow again and lies buried to the tip of his chin.

            The loss of his staff left a strange hollowness inside of him, he had always had it near him or in his hand.  Always. The fact that it was gone forever left him in a constant state of confusion. _‘What am I supposed to do now?’_ The pain from losing his staff had been amazing to him. Besides the amount of physical pain, which in and of itself was staggering, the understanding of how much he needed it, was slightly alarming. An image of Bunny with his boomerangs popped into his head, _‘What if the Guardian’s lost their weapons?_ _Would they ever be able to stand up to Pitch again?’_   He shook his head with a confident denial, _‘With all the battles they have fought, surely their weapons must have been broken or at least damaged at one point, but then why was mine so painful to endure? I'll have to ask  whe-’_ Jack felt  his train of thought derail as anguish seized him. _‘They probably won’t ever speak to me again.’_ He closed his eyes against the torrent of pain that flashed through him. Another long stretch of solitude unfolded before him.

            Hours pass by as Jack watches the line of snow melt into puddles with increasing anxiety. He scoops up handfuls of snow and melts it in his mouth, or holds it against his slightly flushed cheeks, neck and forehead.

            The snow continues to decrease, leaving Jack with only enough to make a palm-sized snowman. He leans against the wall watching it drip away. He sat up straighter to balance himself as he pressed his feet against the wet floor. 

            “Dammit.” he cursed out loud as the telltale signs of lethargy began to set in once more. He punched his closed fist into his open hand vehemently wishing it was Pitch’s face. Then he punches it a few more times for satisfactions sake. He stopped when he realized that he was just making himself warmer with the exertion. So he leaned against the wall and tries to relax. Jack absentmindedly pets his sweatshirt as it lays across his legs. The sweatshirt to Jack represents his last remaining tie to the Guardian’s. he thought back to when he had first recieved it.

*****Flashback*****

            Jack had been walking in the night, happily icing telephone poles, when he jumped over one rooftop, landed on top of another beyond it, and nearly fell off it when he saw North, big, and loud in the same thick red coat holding a package in his hand.

            The big man had made it a habit to be seen by Jack occasionally, a fact that Jack grasped quickly and fully believed he would never be able to express his gratitude properly. In that moment Jack’s mind had flashed back to the last time North had appeared before him so suddenly: when he had saved his life back in the desert. Knowing that he had a debt to the man, Jack stayed where he was, ready to flee, but also ready to listen. He was _not_ ready for the massive man to wrap him in a one armed hug, carefully avoiding skin to skin contact.

            When he was released, a square package was pressed into his hands.

“Here, is for you.” The wrapping was dark blue with a lighter blue snowflake pattern.  “Is from all of us.”

Jack looked up questioningly. “All of us?”

            North pulled out of his many pockets four beautifully detailed figurines made of ice. North held them up one by one before placing them on the ground at Jack’s feet. “Myself,  E. Aster Bunny, Sandman and Toothina, or Tooth, if you like.” North lowered his voice and laid one heavy hand on Jack’s short brown shoulder coat. Jack looked up, “We are here, if you need us.”  Jack only nodded while his eyes roamed over the largest figurine of E. Aster Bunny. The arms were just like he remembered, and the rest of him matched  perfectly. The only thing that was really shocking was the two long ears that stood straight up from his head. He was tall, and Jack could see that he had some sort of markings on his body.  He even noted with impish delight that he had a small tuft of a tail.  

            After noting Jack’s small smile, North patted his shoulder and took off, content with the strengthening bond between them.

            Jack opened the package and took out a light blue hoodie with intricate designs of frost covering the shoulders. Jack stared at it, and looked around for the big man to thank him, but he was nowhere to be found.  He touched the blue fabric lightly, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

*****End of flashback*****

            From that moment on, the incidents when he would see them in the distance included views of Toothina and the Sandman; always busily going about their business. As time went on he got the courage to initiate contact. Bunny was the one he was most curious about, but Sandman, the quietest and least intrusive personality had been his first choice. Jack thought fondly of Sandy’s warm golden glow.

            Strange to think that Jack, a spirit of snow and ice could be so at ease with Sandy who was practically sunshine incarnate.

            The smile fell from his face as his most recent memories of Sandy filled his mind. He sat with his bent knees supporting his crossed arms; his forehead resting on top. He saw himself calling for Sandy to follow him as he pursued the nightmares; Sandy being surrounded by Pitch’s nightmares; the look on Sandy’s face when the arrow had pierced him.

            Jack squeezed his eyes shut. _‘We should never have trusted you!’_ Bunny’s words rang through his head like fresh knives on a brand new chalkboard. He bowed his head, _‘What if they really hate me?’_ His heart clenched in fear as a bleak and lonesome future, that he had once banished, stretched before him again.

            Bunnymund’s big paws appeared even larger in Jack’s mind. Never in all his years of messing with him, had Bunny ever hit him. Threatened him a lot, got his just revenge and then some, but never had Jack seen the look in Bunny’s eye when he had yelled at him that day.

            Jack could well remember the way fear and disbelief had clenched his heart when Bunny had come at him, one fist raised in the air. ‘ _We should never have trusted you!’_ Jack’s eyes peered at the wall seeing nothing as he was swamped with guilt. _‘Bunny was right, they had trusted me and look what happened, Easter was destroyed, Sandy was dead. If I had just woken up the others before…’_ Jack stopped. He had been down the “what if” road before. He knew he had been too arrogant with his powers, to sure of himself. And it led to their downfall. _‘They won’t come for me, after everything I’ve done. I don’t deserve to be a Guardian._ His eyes close in defeat _. ‘What if they really hate me, what if they think of me as an enemy?’_  His heart beat a quick tempo of fear before he could talk himself down from the ledge. Jack leans against the wall in sorrow as the first beads of sweat pop out of his forehead. His eyelids flutter up and down as he doze’s in and out of his dreams.

            A black shadow appears alongside a wall as Pitch steps out. He looks down at Jack who is leaning against the wall sitting still. After returning Jack to his cell, Pitch had decided to ignore him for the time being. But the fluctuating fear had nagged at him for the past couple of hours, after studiously ignoring it for a while, his curiosity gotten the better of him. But it seemed that as soon as he decided to turn his attention to it, the fear stopped. Even more curious he had made his way towared Jack.

            He had come to investigate, but paused long enough to say, “Your snow is gone.” Jack opened his eyes in surprise but looked away refusing to give Pitch any satisfaction and wishing desperately for his staff whole and powerful.

            Pitch felt disbelief and then outright rage at the offhand way Jack was ignoring him.  He gripped his shoulders and slammed Jack against the wall. Jack now looks into his eyes with hate. “You can’t keep me here forev -”

            “WRONG.” Pitch slammed him against the wall again leaned in close and spoke quickly. “I can do, whatever I want, whenever I want, whereever I want.” Their eyes clashed as their breaths mingled between them.  A slow smile grew on Pitch’s face while his eyes traveled down and back up Jack’s sweaty body. He stepped close to Jack removing all space between them and spoke softly into his ear “…to whomever I want.”

            Jack’s eyes were tinted with confusion, but then grew wide with sudden understanding; his mouth hung open in disbelief, but his voice quickly caught up with him. “Don’t you **fucking** touch me!” Suddenly there was a loud rumbling noise from beyond the walls. A sound he had never hoped to hear was coming through the walls.

            “Jack!! Jack where are you?!” It was North, calling for _him_. He heard Bunny and Tooth too, ‘ _They came!’_ Jack and Pitch lock gazes; hope explodes with in him, “North!” He screams with all the volume he could throw out.

            Pitch punches him in the stomach, then turns to face the Guardian’s who had just burst through the wall, a pile of rubble at their feet and the light of battle in their eyes.

             Jack falls down at Pitch’s feet, cradling his stomach as the Guardian’s face Pitch, weapons drawn, ready for war. Jack feels tears grow in his eyes, but he holds them back as a small worm of doubt  manages to wiggle in, ‘ _They…_ might _not be here for me_ …’                              

            Bunny finds Jack’s eyes first and takes in the unusually warm pallor of his skin, and the arm that was wrapped around his middle. His own green eyes darken dangerously as they turn back to Pitch.

            Jack is stunned when Pitch manifests two glinting swords. _‘If they came for me, if they are willing to take me back…I’ve got to prove that I'm on their side. I’ve got to make up for my past mistakes!’_ Jack rose up on his knees and using both hands, viciously punched the back of Pitch’s knees with all the strength he could gather.

            The Nightmare King snarls in surprise as he lunges forward to maintain his balance, Jack sees a blur of blue and white spring over the Nightmare King’s head. Jack snatched the hoodie by his feet, reached up imploringly and was wrapped in Bunny’s strong arms.

            Pitch snarls as the duo lands on the other side of the room. Bunny wraps his arm around Jack, holding him close to his chest and quickly taps his paw on the ground, but Pitch is quicker, he opens a portal right on top of Bunny’s.  Bunny snarled in anger as he and Jack fell through, watching as Pitch whips back around to engage with Tooth and North.


	5. Understanding

* * *

             Jack’s arms were wrapped tightly around Bunny's middle; his face buried in Bunny's soft and uncomfortably warm fur, but he held on, determined to suffer through it to get away from Pitch.

            His threatening words brushing against his ears while spoken in that soft alluring tone still echoed in his mind causing him to shiver once and tighten his hold around the Guardian of the very thing he needed most right now. Hope.  

            Bunny’s anger was nearly palpable as Jack clung to him. He knew that the Jack Frost who constantly pulled pranks would never cling to him with such frightened tenacity. He recalled the imploring look as Jack had reached for him. ‘ _Something terrible must have happened,’_ He tightened his hold on to Jack’s shoulders tucking him in closer to his body as the blackness closed over them. He held Jack close, trying to convey a sense of safety as the darkness around them thinned and then vanished.

            The portal opened and they fell down towards the ground. Bunny instantly shifted, swinging Jack up into his arms and landed feet first on the ground some forty feet down; his powerful leg muscles absorbing the impact easily. Bunny lowered Jack’s legs to the ground while maintaining his hold on his shoulders. He looked around at the huge room, its ceiling and walls were white and high. the length of the room was imposssible to determine, but the width seemed to be around thirty five feet. Clusters of sparse brown trees dotted the eerie landscape as far as the eye could see. Nearby, grey boulders were heaped together against the high walls, covered in a layer of dried moss and strange white dust. Bunny quickly taped his paw on the ground demanding a tunnel to the outside but none came.  “Damn it.”

             Bunny sees Jack’s flushed skin and releases him, backing away quickly. “Are you allright?”

Jack is confused by his question, “You just let go of me like I was an infection and then asked me if I was allright?”

Bunny’s eyes narrowed, “I’m covered in thick fur, If I held on, you would become even warmer. I can tell that you’re too hot already. Just answer the question.

Jack nodded in apology. “I just need to sit,” Jack mumbled as he stumbled towards the trees.

            Bunny impatiently scooped Jack up and carried him over to a stand of sparse trees.  The fact that Jack only ventured forth one mumbled curse caused him alarm. He had never seen Jack so beaten down.  “What did he do to you? Are you hurt anywhere?” His concern clearly leaking out into his voice. “How can I help?”

            Jack opened his eyes slowly, “I just need to rest somewhere cold, Bunny can’t we leave?”

“I can’t mate, Pitch has done something to the land, I can’t make any tunnels.”

            “Of course he did.” Jack leaned his back against the trees, silence reigned for a few moments then, “You came for me.”

Bunny shifted uncomfortably, “Yeah…”

            “Why? I thought-”

            Bunny waved an impatient and slightly embarrassed paw in the air “It was wrong of us to expect you to not fall for Pitch’s tricks.”

            Jack was silent as shock washed through him eroding away his confidence and crumbling it into dust. He lowered his head _‘I knew it.’_

            Bunny glanced over “Damn it, Jack! I only meant that you had never fought him before, and wouldn’t have known about his tactics.”

            The tears in his eyes were making a valiant effort to spill over, against Jack’s wishes, some made it .“I’m sorry Bunny, I didn’t mean to destroy Easter, I didn’t -“            

            Bunny placed one paw roughly on top of Jack’s head. “Will you just shut up, mate?” Bunny wrapped one arm around Jack’s head and pulled him into his chest for a quick embrace, then released him. “It wasn’t your fault, alright? We knew we would be fighting Pitch from the beginning, and didn’t take any precautions to prepare you.” He lowered his voice and spoke urgently to Jack.  “No one blames you at all. The lure of your memories is probably just about the biggest… carrot,” Jack smiled “…Pitch could have dangled in front of you.” Bunny placed a gentle paw on Jack’s shoulder. “We will always want you with us. Don’t ever doubt that.”               

            Jack’s heart leapt in his chest as he nodded once more. “How did you know where I was?”

Bunny smiled again “A little fairy told us.” 

Jack snapped his head up “Babytooth! I thought- Is she alright?”

           “Yeah. Little bugger flew all the way to the pole to get help. …Jack,” Bunny began, but he was cut off from the shrill whinnies of the Nightmare King’s minions. Bunny leaned down and scooped Jack up, then quickly deposited him behind a bunch of boulders.

            Jack gets to his feet and speaks quickly, “ I don’t have any powers, Pitch snapped my staff in half; I won’t be much help in this fight.”

            Bunny seemed to want to turn towards Jack but he stopped himself and instead called over his shoulder as he hopped back towards the sound of the approaching nightmares. “We’ll talk later about your powers,” he said as he pulled out his matched boomerangs from the pouch on his back.

            Jack nodded his head and settled back behind a pile of dim grey boulders _. ‘Don’t know that there’s much to talk about though,’_

            Suddenly a wave of nightmares came bursting from a portal that appeared in the room. Jack could only watch in anger, as Bunny was mobbed in what was hardly a fair fight. The Australian warrior seemed to get his rhythm though and soon enough was laying into them, leading them away from Jack; felling two to three nightmares in a single blow, laughing all the while.

 

            North tightened his grip on his blade, while Tooth held onto her sword with both hands. Simultaneously they leapt at the Bogeyman, fury in their attacks.

Pitch quickly fell into his fighting stance and blocked each of their blows,  like a snake weaving in and out of their attacks.

North swung the sharpened blade at Pitch who dodged to the side. “Where are they?!”      

            “Who?” Pitch asked innocently.

Tooth flew up in the air and brought her sword down with all her might.

            Pitch shoved North back with a wave of black sand and whipped both swords up to catch her heavy blow with both blades.  He gritted his teeth as he commanded his long legs to hold him up. With a surge of power he shoved Tooth’s attack back and caught North’s blade before it could cut into his side.

            “Jack and Bunny! Where did you send them?”

“Why do you care? You don't want Jack anymore, remember?”

 North raised his sword to block Pitch’s sudden strike and slammed his shoulder into him, hoping to unbalance him.  “He doesn’t belong to you.”  He growled dangerously.

            Pitch let the heavy blow propel him backwards, hopped up, bracing himself against the wall with his feet, and then launched himself back into the fight, his sword glinting dangerously. “Does he belong to you?”

            Tooth came flying down at a perilous angle and sliced at Pitch who barely dodged her swift attack. “He belongs to **himself** , he has a home with us if he chooses it.”

            Pitch threw himself forward as both Tooth and North lunged for him. He dove for the floor using his sand as a buffer and slipped past them, then used another wave of sand to shove them to the opposite side of the room. “What if he doesn’t choose you? What if he decides to stay with me?”

            North narrowed his eyes determined to not fall for Pitch’s tricks. “You could never make him want to stay with someone like you.”

            Pitch easily hid the pain from the knife that North had just thrown in his heart and focused on the battle before him. The three of them eyed each other carefully looking for any kind of opening. “It’s true, my first attempt was a bit too abrupt but I think I can convince him.” He slipped to the right avoiding a swipe of North’s.

Tooth leapt forward swinging her blade towards Pitch’s head wishing to take it clean off his shoulders for the pain she was sure he had caused Jack.

            Pitch deflected the attack to the side and locked his left arm in an upright position to block Tooth as she whipped out a vicious roundhouse, forcing him back several inches.

“To be like you?” Tooth spat out as she switched sword hands and back slashed at Pitch from the opposite angle.

            Pitch saw North move forward just as Tooth switched hands on her blade. He immediately sealed his right foot tightly to the floor. Raised his left leg and right arm to block their simultaneous attacks, sand forming in front of Pitch's appendages like curved shields; enabling Pitch to easily shove away their attacks.

            North and Tooth backed away momentarily as they recovered from their deflected blows.  Pitch smiled, “Frost and I have commonalities that you could never know.”

“You think you know Jack better than we do?” North asked, rage building in his voice.

            “What you have learned is the surface characteristics, all of which I too can learn. While the four of you have ignored his needs I can tell the boy is starved for connections,” he smiled innocently.  “Why can’t I fill that role as well as you?”

            “Nobody would agree to that once they know what you are Pitch, and Jack knows what you are.”

            “He doesn’t know a single thing about me,” Pitch snarled, “and neither do you.' pitch quickly chained down his emotions and calmed his voice. "It’s not a question of if, Nick, but when. So I ask you again, what will you do? Shun him? Attack him?”

            “It’s not going to happen.”

            Pitch shook his head “You should have brought him to the fold sooner Nick. You really were… too late.” Pitch smiled and formed a portal beneath their feet that rose up into the air, and like a gaping mouth, it swallowed them whole. He watched them go down with satisfaction before sealing the portal closed denying Tooth the ability to fly them back out.

            Pitch stood panting as he caught his breath before he went after Frost and the rabbit. Strong as he was, fighting those two had taken a lot out of him. _‘Why are they so protective of that loudmouth brat?_  Pitch let the swords dissolve away into nothing and was left staring at empty hands. He was both relieved and disgusted that the skills he had learned as a young man, were still with him to this day. _‘I guess you can’t wash out all the memories with time; not while I have enemies to keep them sharp.’_ He rubbed his biceps, to ease the tension out of them trying to remember the last time he had been in close combat. 

            _‘One thing is for sure, I want to see their defeated faces when Jack chooses me, they would be so demoralized  that they will never be able to rise above it. They might even trust each other less. If  Jack deserted them, how they would suffer!’_ He straightened his back and walked through the shadows to send the rabbit on his way and reclaim his prize.

 

            Jack watched as Bunny gracefully leapt from rocks and trees to the nightmares to the white washed walls and back again; he was an elegant warrior. Jack watched him from his hiding place behind a pile of boulders. His sweaty hands ached for his staff, any means of defense was preferable to the pathetic hiding he had been reduced to.

Suddenly he felt a prickle over his skin and looked over to see a solitary nightmare approaching him. He froze and checked the immediate urge to call out to Bunny for help. Jack stood and looked around for anything he could use to defend himself with.

            He saw a cluster of palm sized stones and reached for them. He paused one hand holding onto his hoodie. He looked back from the stones to the hoodie. _‘It’s going to be **so** hot but…’_ Wanting both of his hands free, Jack quickly threw on his hoodie, then grabbed a handful of stones. _‘Made of sand or not one of these in the eye is going to hurt.’_    He opened his eyes wide, hoping to clear some of the heated haze from them. The horse steadily approached.

            Bunny glanced over at Jack’s position to see him standing straight before the on-coming nightmare. “Jack!” Bunny called out he made a hair pin turn and dove for him, but was cut off as another thick wave of nightmares drove him back.

            Jack waited as the nightmare came to a halt fifteen feet or so from him. Then like a shot, the beast lunged forward and Jack had to throw himself to the side. _‘So fast!’ H_ e scrambled up the boulders to get a better vantage point as the horse thundered past. The black stallion swung around and Jack started pelting the horses face with little rocks, relying heavily on all his years of throwing snowballs. Magic or not, good aim was a skill he had to hone. Suddenly the horse charged straight at the mountainous pile of rocks. Jack tensed waiting for the horse to turn, but it didn’t. Instead as it crashed into it, the sand melted apart, sliding easily through them.

            Jack looked around trying to think through the sweltering heat. Suddenly the rocks shifted beneath his feet. Black sand came rushing upward and he felt himself flying through the air, “Wind!” he called in a last ditch instinctive effort, but none came in the still cavern as he plummeted back down towards the hard unyielding ground.

             “Jack!” Bunny called horrified, he swiped angrily at the encroaching nightmares, “Get outta my way ya bloody-JACK!” He could only watch as another nightmare appeared and launched itself towards Jack’s airborne body.

            Jack felt the ridged head of another nightmare slam in to his side. Blood flew in the air as he coughed harshly. He saw the ground come up and braced himself as best as he could. When his body collided with the ground he managed to tuck his legs in and roll across the surface. He felt like his entire body had been beaten. He clutched his head with his hand, ‘ _Get up, get up, get up, get up, get up!’_ He struggled to one knee and looked up to see a nightmare standing inches from his hand.

            Jack had only a second to register the danger before the horse lunged forward. Its large teeth clamped onto Jack’s damp hoodie and began dragging him away from the other nightmares and Bunny.

             Jack tried to stand to relieve the pressure around his neck, but the horse was going too fast; he couldn’t get his feet beneath him. Desperately Jack chocked out a call for help, “Bunny! Bu-nny!” He struggled and managed to wiggle out of the hoodie; he fell on his back and immediately turned over and gagged. He heard a swoosh, and then a startled whinny as the boomerang ripped through the nightmare that had grabbed him.

            Jack struggled to catch his breath, as his heart pounded thickly in his chest. He stayed where he was, one hand pressed against his sweaty throat, attempting to quell the shaking that has started in his limbs.

            “You allright mate?” Bunny called out in between pants as he hurled his newly returned boomerang at yet another enemy.

            Jack wanted to answer but the ringing in his ears was making it hard to think. _‘This is not as bad as it could be. I'm alright.’_ He nodded, and then quickly realized Bunny was engaged in battle and unable to look at him close enough to see his minute head movements. He lifted his head as he spoke out loud, ”I’m–” He stopped as his gaze settled on four hooves and a pair of tall black boots. Appalled disbelief had his heart plummeting in his chest. He looked up straight into the satisfied golden eyes of the Nightmare King.

             Jack felt something in him shift, it was horror, fear, desperation, it was a guillotine of terror; cutting him off from all rational thought and reasonable conclusion. In bright red letters a question was inscribed on the blade _‘Where were Tooth and North?’_

            Pitch took a moment to appreciate Frost’s absolute WAVE of fear. Easily reading his fears he spoke softly, “They are not dead.” Jack didn’t trust him for a second. “They were just transported out of my home to some jungle in east Africa. They won’t be interrupting **us** for a while.”                     

            Jack grit his teeth in anger as his eyes flashed furiously. Despite the anger churning with in him, he still had no idea about what to do, he had nothing to fight the Nightmare King with. He could still hear the shrill whinnying of the nightmares running around in the background. He felt his fingers curl in to a tight fist as Pitch stared down at him with intense eyes.                                                           

            “Pitch!” Bunny roared. 

Pitch casually waved his hand and a thick wall of black sand appeared, towering towards Bunny.

“No!” Jack choked out, rising to his feet; Pitch kicked him in the side viciously.

            “Where do you think **you** are going?” He asked scathingly as Jack flew back seven or eight feet. Pitch stroked the nightmares nose, whispering in its ear. He glanced back towards Frost then strode off to meet Bunny, while the nightmare trotted after Jack’s airborne form in the opposite direction.

             Jack felt the boot connect and then the air rush by him, and after the initial pain, for one glorious second he though the wind had returned to him, but his reality was brought back to him in a painful reminder as he crashed back down sliding some ten feet across the solid ground. His head felt awful, he tried to focus and saw Pitch walking away from him, towards Bunny. ‘ _No,’_ He put one hand under him and pushed himself off the ground. Forcing his breaths in even strides, trying to breathe past the intense pain in his side.  

            The sudden snort of a horse froze him for an eternal instant before he threw his fatigued body forward, but the nightmare was quicker, easily keeping up with him. The black horse raised one hoof and resoutely put it on Jack’s back slamming him into the ground. The horse watched him with one bright eye as it put pressure on its hoof pinning Jack to the ground.

            Jack struggled uselessly against the immense weight.  “Get off!” Jack tried to get up, but the nightmare laid its ears back, snapped its teeth threateningly near his face.

             Jack glanced forward and saw Pitch walking unconcernedly towards Bunny. “Pitch! Pitch Stop! Leave him alone!” He struggled in vain to raise him above the ground, to help Bunny, but the weight on his back held him down easily. He wiped the sweat from his brow and could only look on as Pitch seemed to follow his wall of black sand towards Bunny. Panic rose into his throat, “Stop! Please! Leave him alone! …Pitch!”

             Thanks to his large ears, Bunny could easily hear Jack beyond the virtual wall of death that Pitch had sent at him. He cleared his mind and focused on his own body and what he had to do. He clutched his boomerangs firmly to his body, turning them so their tips pointed outward. He spun in a  tight circle as he dived through the wall of glimmering darkness to land ten feet in front of Pitch. He glanced around carefully for Jack and sees a nightmare on top of him. He trains his eyes on Pitch but calls out to the spirit of winter, “Jack, you allright?”

            “I’m fine!”

“I'm coming for you mate, hold on.” Bunny and Pitch observe each other critically.

            Pitch looked at Bunny with calculating eyes, “I didn’t expect you to survive that one Aster. Your friends proved to be a bit more powerful as well.” Bunny didn’t say anything, well aware of Pitch’s strategies. He silently paced before the nightmare king looking for an opening. 

            “In fact,” Pitch continued, “I’m sure that if it weren’t for the alluring bait, you would not have found the will to survive  at all.” Pitch analyzes the fear in the room looking for Bunny’s. He can sense Jack’s sharp fear behind him: fear for his friends, fear for Bunny, fear of him, that one was deliciously strong. And of course fear for himself. Bunny was not very afraid of him, but he was afraid for Jack, and that was all the opening he needed.“It’s quite stupid to fear for others when you yourself are in… such danger, Aster,” He tsked, “such danger.” He could feel Bunny’s fear small but steady.

            “Still resorting to such cowardly tactics I see. Get outta my head Pitch or I'm gonna take your’s.”

            Pitch probed deeper, looking for the real reason Bunny was afraid, because Bunny was definitely afraid. Afraid he wouldn’t see Jack again, wouldn’t be able to explain, to apologize for their actions. _’So that’s it.’_ Pitch put his hands behind his back and walked around in a carefree manner, always staying between Bunny and Jack. “You are never going to get him back, Aster,” Pitch said. Bunny stopped moving. “He belongs to me now.” He tilted his head towards Bunny, cold gold clashed with hot green. “I'm never going to let him go.”

            Bunny’s ears were flat against his skull. “I'm never gonna let that happen. He belongs with us, his family.”  

            Jack hid his head in his elbow as when he heard Bunny’s forceful words, not knowing how he could be so elated and so terrified at the same time.                                                   

            Bunny starts forward and Pitch manifests his scythe and takes a swipe at his opponent. Bunny jumped backwards into the air in defense, but this was just what Pitch was waiting for. His laugh was full of condescension and victory as he opened a huge portal below Bunny. The portal continued to increase in diameter, twenty, thirty, forty feet wide and holding steady; it was an inescapable trap for him and they both knew it. Pitch floated on a cloud of black sand watching as his victory came to a close.  He laughed when he saw Bunny’s face, his eyes wide in shock at the massive portal.

            Jack saw it from where he was laying and called out desperately to him. “Bunny!”    

 “I'll come back for you Jack, don’t give up on us!” Bunny couldn’t stop his descent and fell through Pitch’s portal, “Hold on Jack!” he yelled. The portal closed over him.

            Jack’s head thudded against his arms that braced his neck, above the ground. His breath ragged from calling out to Bunny, his limbs shaking and dripping in sweat, he repeated Bunny’s words to himself. _‘I'll come back for you.’_ he said, _‘I'll come back for you.’_ His body shuddered through dry sobs of happiness.

            Pitch looked down upon his defeated enemy, he waved the horse away, reached down and gripping his damp shoulders, threw his light body up into the air and watched as Jack came crashing back down.

             He walked over to Jack’s groaning form as he materialized his scythe. He pulled Jack up with one hand and threw him into the nearest wall, then placed the scythe delicately under Jack’s chin, forcing him to stand upright against the wall.

            With the cold blade pressing against his heated skin, Jack had to struggle to **not** lean into it. He fought with his body to stay upright.  Pressing himself back against the wall, his heels dug into the ground. He placed his left hand on an adjacent boulder for balance and support.

            Once he was stable he looked defiantly into Pitch’s burning golden eyes through his own half lidded blue ones.

            “Know, Jack Frost that all of the _distractions_ live, but they could not defeat me today, and from this point on, I only grow stronger.” He smiled into his face, “There will be no escape. There will be no respite, your world from this moment on, is in my power to build, control and destroy.”

            Jack tried to focus on keeping his head upright. He placed a hand on the scythe and pushed back as much as he dared.

Pitch backed off an inch curious as to what the mouthy teen would say.

            Jack leaned his head back against the wall and took a brief moment to gather himself, “They don’t hate me,” Jack’s hand trembled against the rock, “They will come for me.”  He looked into the Nightmare Kings eyes and managed a small smile before his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed.

            Pitch stood silently seething, he grabbed Jack’s lifeless form and threw him high in the air, and then he raised his scythe ready to slide the blade through Jack’s chest as his body fell towards the ground a second time. Pitch stood ready to strike. He raised the scythe, then stopped suddenly. The scythe dematerialized as Pitch caught Jack before he could hit the ground. ‘ _No hasty decisions.’_  he remembered.

            He dropped Jack on the ground and walked around him and started to pace. ‘ _How can I use this to my advantage’?_ He glanced over at Frost’s sweating bare chest and smiled to himself, ‘ _Besides the obvious, of course.’_ He walked back to Jack’s limp body and hauled him over one shoulder.

            Jack’s arms hung down over Pitch’s chest, He idly stroked the toned pale shoulder. He pressed his fingers against his pale skin and caressed Jack’s hand, admiring the stark difference between them: White and grey, good and evil, young and old. Pitch remembered when his hands had been red with the blood of his enemies. ‘ _Frost_ _has probably never had blood on his hands.’_ Pitch dropped Jack’s pale hand immediately and walked back towards the wall he had come out of. He paused when he saw the damp hoodie lying on the ground, then walked past it, created a portal and stalked off with the sprite slung over his shoulder.


	6. Initial contact

            Tooth and North shot out of the portal landing on their feet, side by side, ready to do battle. They scrutinized their surroundings looking for anything that seemed out of place. The quiet bird calls and  bright sunlight streaming down through the tall canopy seemed to confirm that no nightmares could be lurking nearby. After observing that they were alone, they immediately turned towards the other and spoke at once.

 “How do we get Jack out?”

            North smiled “My thoughts exactly.”

“We don’t even know where we are!” Tooth protested.

            “Is no use to be crying over milk that already is spilled. Jack is strong, he will be counting on us now that he knows we are coming. He knows we will not turn our backs on him again.”

            Tooth put her hand on his shoulder and nodded.  “Did you see his face when we burst through the wall? He was astonished to see us.”

            North couldn’t deny the truth of her words. “He didn’t expect us to come, that much is clear. Now that Pitch knows that we will come for him, there is only one thing left to do. That is to fight the fight and bring Jack home.” North held up his right hand and took a thick golden ring off his thumb,

“Is this really the time to be admiring your personal choice in jewelry?”

            “You see,” he flipped it up into the air and at the height of its arc; it glowed white then expanded to the size of a hubcap. Inside it Tooth could see the workshop, like a window had appeared showing them the current activities at the pole. The yetis were busy making toys while the elves ate cookies and traveled underneath the hulking masses of moving fur. “Phil!” North called out.

            Back at the workshop, a yeti with graying fur and clear aged eyes looked up as a ripple of magic floated past him. A gold ring flew off one of the largest Christmas trees and spun through the air.

            The ring flew up in the air and expanded to the size of a hubcap. Inside it he could see North and Toothina standing in the middle of some jungle. He barked out an order for quiet, and waited for North to speak.

            “Wow.” Tooth murmured.

            North grinned, proud of his creation, then he called up to Phil. “The mission was unsuccessful; Tooth and I were separated from the others. Jack and Bunny are still battling Pitch. We need a transport immediately. Use the globe to triangulate our position. I'll need a guide as to where we should meet.”

            Phil lumbered over towards the globe as North spoke, he pushed buttons, flipped switches, turned knobs and at the end of all the beeping, clacking and whirring, told North of a small clearing about twenty minutes away from where they were.

            “We be there in less than twenty, you be there in less than ten.”

            Phil groaned the groan of the long-suffering as the ring shrunk and went back to the tree and settled amongst three others. He began giving orders as he made his way to the slopes of the mountains to call in the reindeer.

            “They be here soon Tooth. We need to be on higher ground,” He turned around and started walking.

 

            Bunnymund landed feet first out of the black tunnel and into a midnight forest of birch; launching quickly to the side when he heard the sound of rushing horses. Seconds later a horde of nightmares exploded out from the tunnel.                                                                                   

             “Crikey,” he muttered darkly as he sliced through them. He hopped away as fast as he could to gain some distance. After he had managed to put fifty or so feet between them he slowed and tapped his foot against the ground. Three giant stone eggs appeared, rising out of the ground. They shifted at their midline, their tops turning to show less cheerful faces, then turned back with Bunnymund to the oncoming nightmares.

            One of the giant stone eggs abruptly stopped as a ring of stars started glowing around its center. Bunny jumped on top of the egg and smacked a paw sharply against its side. Instantly the glowing stars peeled off and slashed out towards the enemy. The strands bit deeply into their ebony hide's as nine or ten nightmares poofed up in plumes of sand, their screams of defeat echoing into nothing as they dispersed.  Bunny smiled grimly as he activated the next strand of diamonds.

            He jumped down from his perch and made another pass through the nightmares as the diamonds snapped out through the diminished mass of nightmares.

            The fighting continued on into the night. All of his egg bombs were used, but he was finishing off the last of them just as light began to paint the sky a darker hue of blue. He turned his back on the first white pinpricks in the sky to slice through the last two of the nightmares.

            All was silent. Bunny waited for the next nightmare to appear. But none came. He sent the stone eggs back to the Warren. Then looked around once more double checking for any stray nightmares to take his anger out on. He stood tall and tapped his foot against the ground, opened a portal to the North Pole and jumped in.

 

            Pitch dumped the unconscious body of Jack Frost back into his original lightless hole. Golden eyes snagged on the slight trail of blood that was drying on his face. Pitch crouched down next to him and swiped the blood off of his face using the back of his hand.  Jack’s skin was heated and warm to the the touch. Pitch’s eyes fell from Jack’s face to his neck then lingered on his rising and falling chest, before he abruptly stood and left.

            Jack came to several hours later, _‘Where am I…?’_  His heart thumped sickeningly in his chest, he was back in his first cell. But then lifted slightly when he remembered all that had happened. _‘It was almost worth it to know that they really care. No, it was worth it.’_ He sucked in a sharp breath of realization “My hoodie…?” His hands darted around, blindly seeking the precious cloth, but to no avail. He sat up in the middle of the small cave as the truth came home to him. _‘It’s gone.’_  He sat on the floor and told himself it was just a hoodie, just a piece of fabric, but his heart ached at the loss.

            Hours passed and Jack felt his temperature steadily rise, but he didn’t let himself become alarmed; he knew this was going to happen anyway. He let the fever take him, didn’t try to make any sense of it. He kept still, finding the will power to lean up against the wall to feel the marginally cooler stone.

            Jack felt his lips crack; his throat felt like it hadn’t had any liquid for two weeks. His head lolled to the side, his eyes closed and he saw visions of snow banks, his pond, the pole with North, the stream in the Warren with Bunny. He could feel his sweat rolling off him and forming a puddle under his back while his skin felt dry as the crust on a piece of bread. Dimming warning bells were ringing shrilly in the back of his mind.

           

            Pitch stood beside the bed of a young child watching his dreams. With the Sandman finally out of the way, dreams were his to control. The power was his to take.

            To anyone besides himself, and the late Sandman, these dreams would be a mystery. With no golden sand to sprinkle over their heads, their dreams would be visible to the child only. The Guardian’s couldn’t watch them without the sand to conform to the child’s imagination. Constant shifting, changing, and rearranging was needed to match such spontaneous movement of thought. Pitch released the black sand and let it show the form of the child’s dream without taking control of it.

            The image of a young boy flying on a carpet appeared before Pitch. The child was happy flying over the treetops. Then the boy tossed up his hands and laughed as the carpet flew down through the trees. The boy jumped off the carpet and walked through the trees towards the sky. He glanced at a sign that warned about the steep drop off before passing it. He hopped over a railing and walked to the edge of the cliff. He peered over the edge and saw a handful of beautiful red and yellow flowers, he reached for them.

            Pitch shook his head in anger _, ‘Foolish boy!’_ He twisted harshly at the sand and took control. The boy reached for the flowers but slipped and fell off the edge, hands clinging desperately to the cliff. The wind buffeted his tiny body back and forth. The flowers only a foot or two ahead turned on him, their petals going wide as razor sharp teeth were displayed, they snapped at the cliff face surrounding the boy’s hand, eating away at his rocky hold.

            The child’s eyes were wide with terror and Pitch soaked it all in. “Stop! Stop!” The boy shouted, but the flowers kept eating away at the wall, suddenly the rock face cracked, the boy watched with tears falling down his white face as the rock split and broke loose. He fell back screaming as he dropped fifty feet.

            The black sand shifted apart and flew towards Pitch as the boy started screaming in the night. The sand twirled around his fingers giving him that much more power just as Pitch heard the thumping of the parent’s feet. He stood back and watched as the boy’s parents burst into his room.

            “Danny, Danny its allright,” The child threw his arms around his mother while his father patted his hair gently “It’s allright Danny, it was just a dream.”

            “No it wasn’t!”

“Yes it was sweetheart.” His mother reassured him. “It’s not real. It can’t hurt you”

 _‘But falling off cliffs can.’_ Pitch thought to himself.

“I won’t ever do it again I won’t ever go off the trail!”

His parents patted his back soothingly.

            Pitch smiled in the darkness and thought _‘No, no he wouldn’t… at least not for a bunch of stupid flowers…’_ His smile fell off his face as he turned back through the shadows accompanied by his newest soldier.

            He stepped through the shadows and appeared at the lake in Burgess Park. Pitch held the sand tightly in his hands briefly then threw it up into the air. It burst apart into a cloud of fine black smoke, and then at Pitch’s command reformed into a horse the size of a large cat. He looked off into the distance and saw the moon. Then he released the nightmare to the darkness of the woods and heard the excited whinny of many horses. He turned back to the moon and bowed in mock servitude. The sneer on his face seemed fixed there as he turned from the glowing orb. His eyes landed on a small clump of flowers that grew by the water’s edge, their bright white petals were bathed in moonlight.

            Pitch looked back up at the moon, “And the Guardian’s say that I am cruel. I wonder, old friend, if they knew all that you had done...would they still follow you blindly?” Knowing the moon’s penchant for silence he turned back to his home without waiting, and sank beneath the shadows.

            Pitch walked through his library to the bookcase next to the fireplace. He picked up and held the picture of the little girl for a few silent moments. A dull sense of pain permeated his body as images of the girl flashed through his mind. Half forgotten sleepy smiles of the morning. The way her eyes would narrow when she was concentrating. ‘ _Flowers…’_ He thought in disgust; he stopped before he could remember less pleasant things, and placed her picture gently on the shelf before turning back into the shadows.

            Pitch left the library and roamed his domain restlessly. ‘ _Fucking flowers,’_ When he felt his hands ball into fists he made himself stop. ‘ _Why.’_ He demanded of himself _, ‘am I thinking of her now? Why all of a sudden do I want to see her face again? What has chan-’_ He felt his jaw slacken then he grit his teeth as fury surged through him. _‘It couldn’t be Frost! It’s impossible, although, this all began to happen  when he showed up here…’_ He unclenched his hands as he was forced to correct himself. _‘When I brought him here…but his presence here can have no bearing on the matter, they are two entirely unrelated and indifferent subjects.’_

            He stood still for a few moments thinking carefully. Then he suddenly pivoted on his heel and angrily tore open a portal. He was about to step forward when he suddenly paused and banished the portal just as quickly as it appeared.

_‘It’s not possible. I know there can’t be any kind of connection…I need time to think about this. I'll walk down.’_

            Thirty minutes later, the Nightmare king stood in the darkness watching Jack sweat out his life. He had thought he would burst through the wall and take out his frustration with his fists. But he paused when he saw Jack’s pitiful state. Yellow orbs sharpened on each drop of sweat as it rolled across his pale chest and down his lean stomach muscles to the floor.

 _‘There is no connection between them, this is only a coincidence.’_ His eyes followed the path of dampness from Frost’s neck and across his shoulder blades.

Pitch could see the way Jack was trying to swallow past his dry throat. Unconsciously Pitch brought his thumb up to his lips and started rubbing it across them. Suddenly he turned from Jack and melted back into the shadows.

            He appeared on a white mountainside and shoved his hands into the cold snow and looked back at the waiting portal with a wicked smile.

           

Jack was breathing heavily through his mouth, his arms felt like they were made of wet sand, they were so heavy, but still so dry.  A rustle of booted feet rouses him from his stupor.                            

“Jack,” Pitch coos. “Jack I have something for you.” Pitch takes a knee beside him and puts his icy hands in front of Jack’s face.

            Jack can smell the cold and can’t help it when his body turns toward the scent, but pain pulled at his body tightly. His hands clench to his chest as he curls up, unable to even reach out and take the relief.

            Pitch raises an eyebrow in excitement. He looks at Frost’s curled form and hovers both hands over him enjoying the power he held, and then gently but quickly, placed them on his chest, forcing his back flat against the ground.

            Jack opened his eyes and sucks in a ragged breath as the coldness seemed to burn him. The pain forbade his fingertips from getting a tight hold on Pitch's hands. He grits his teeth silently, refusing to give Pitch any satisfaction. He pushed his feet aganst the floor trying to get away from the freezing cold as it bites into his skin, but Pitch easily held him in place.

             Jack feels the coldness seeping back into his skin. It felt so painfully good, like his first drink of freezing cold ice water after days of thirst.  

            Pitch picks his hands up and is delighted to hear an unconscious sound of protest from Frost. He flips his hands over and puts them palm up on Jack’s chest.

            Jack closes his eyes as he concentrates on the cool sensation. A part of him knows that the person touching him is Pitch Black but he can’t find the strength to care while the burning of his skin was finally, finally, _finally_ being relieved.

            Jack reaches down to clutch at the coldness that was radiating from Pitch’s hands. He grabbed them and managed to pull them up towards his neck, trying to ease the pain in his throat.

            “F- Fuck you… Pitch,” Jack feels his hands and body shudder in pain but tightly holds on, knowing he has to survive the pain to get relief.

            Pitch was taken aback by Jack’s strong hold on him. He left his hands in Jack’s, studying the strange appearance of hands around his own, then he lifted his eyes and hungrily roamed over Jack’s shuddering body. 

            Jack tenses violently as Pitch pulls away from him. A semblance of sanity comes back to him and he forced himself to not cling onto Pitch’s cold hands.

            After Pitch stands up and walks out of the room. Jack holds his semi-cold hands to his neck praying for relief for his scorched throat. As his hands lose their initial coolness he curls up on his side and holds them to his chest. 

            Pitch walked through into the shadows of Jack’s prison and into the open cavern, for once not paying attention to the enraged cries of the hundreds of fairies trapped in their black cages above him. He breathes through his nose trying to calm himself but he just can’t. He throws back his head and laughs.  Catching himself on the wall next to him, he holds his hand over his mouth trying for control. _‘Who needs Jack’s memories?_ ’  “Ha ha ha,” _‘Who needs to go after the other Guardian’s? “_ Ha, ha, ha!” _‘Jack Frost will beg for his own destruction!’_ “HaHaHaHa!” 


	7. Cold hands

            North and Tooth were walking single file, beating back the thick overgrowth. The luscious green boughs of the huge trees provided shade but little comfort from the sweltering heat. “I've never been so disgustingly soggy in my whole life!” Tooth exclaimed in aggravation as she swiped the row of sweat off her forehead for the tenth time.

            North chuckled silently knowing better than to irritate her; beyond a point, anyways.  He adopted the tone of wise sage giving advice to a young warrior. “The distance is not far, but the journey is long.”

            Tooth rolled her eyes at the familiar words. It had been one of North's favorite sayings when they had battled Pitch in the past.

“Look, you can see it now.”

Tooth put a hand on his shoulder and used it to balance herself as she fluttered up in the air.

            The glimpse of pure daylight was wonderful to see.

She touched back down and waited impatiently for North to clear the last bit of zealous local flora from their path. “I’ve got to get rid of this excessive water.”

            North nodded once staying well into the tree line. He ducked behind a cluster of thicker trees as Tooth rushed out into the broad sunlight.

            With hurried steps, she distanced herself from North, flung out her arms and then spun in a rapid circle flinging the water that clung to her out in a shimmering arc of water droplets.

 “Ahh that’s better.” 

            Tooth approached North in a much better mood. She sat on the grass to wait for their transport as calm as a pool of water.

            North recalled the first time Tooth had performed that maneuver. It was in a massive storm; they had been battling Pitch somewhere near the coast of the Indian ocean. The rain water had dropped incessantly from her tiny body weighing her down, slowing both her attacks and her reaction time.

            In an effort to lose weight, she had literally spun the water off. The Guardian’s had been a bit too close. Pitch had laughed cruelly and still liked to shove it in her face occasionally.  After their battle Tooth had apologized profusely and was grateful when her fellow Guardian’s waved off her apologies commenting on the effectiveness of her new found attack. North showed her the bruises on his skin happily.

            They sat at the rim of the clearing and listened hopefully for the sound of ringing bells.

Tooth picked a palm frond from a nearby bush and with quick and agile fingers created a grasshopper, a fish, a crab, a swallowtail and soon enough had a miniature army at her feet.

“How long is it going to take?” she asked impatiently.

“Phil has to gather at least four of the reindeer from all over the mountains, it will take a bit of time.”

            Tooth looked back at her creations. _‘If Pitch wasn’t able to create his own army we would have a hell of a better time kicking his ass. We would already have Jack back and wouldn’t be in this cursed Amazonian jungle in the first place.’_  

 Tooth slowed her creations and held her second bird in her hands. “Do you think Jack is allright?”

“Yes.”

            Tooth blinked at his quick and confident response, she looked up at him  “How can you be so sure?”

“Jack is smarter than he acts. And not so inexperienced as he looks. He will not be so easily broken as Pitch believes.”

            North paused, realizing that he had spoken without thinking, his mind had been far away, trapped under the ground with Jack.

            “What do you mean?”

North hedged “Just that he is more mature than he acts.”

            Tooth put a hand on North’s shoulder, “We’ve all had hardships North.”

North looked away from her wary of giving anything else away.

            But his actions had just the opposite effect. His lack of response sent her into a state of concerned suspicion. Like a mother hen over her chicks; any pain that was not shared was not halved. “What is it? What happened to Jack?”

            “It’s not for me to tell.” He said in clipped tones.

“But-”

            “It’s not for me to tell.”  He repeated.

“North-”

            North turned towards her. “I know you are concerned Tooth,” he glanced away for a moment as a memory of Jack in an alleyway was called to the forefront of his mind. That bright red color that rolled down the alley–way walls seemed to seep into his mind. ‘ _If I hadn’t found him that night…’._ He clenched his hands unconsciously. Then he quickly shook himself out of his memory and focused on what to tell Tooth.  

            “We all have had hardships Tooth, you say it rightly. The four of us, you, Bunny, Sandy and I, have suffered through the same types of anguish. All the battles with Pitch, not to mention the fight to keep our believers. But when we came into this world we had each other, we knew exactly who we were and what we were meant to do. It took me quite a long time to realize just how much we all depended on that.”

             North looked up into the trees, and wished he was back in his home with nothing to worry about. No Pitch, no persistently independent Guardian: nothing but his flying ice trains, the annual yeti football tournament and a plate of cookies. He sighed heavily. “We all had a solid base, a foundation to build from, we all had homes, we all had commonalities that bound us together. But Jack was alone from the very beginning.”  

            “We offered our friendship, he knew that we were there for him, he interacted with Sandy, and even Bunny…”

North looked at her over his shoulder, a slight twinkle back in his eye.

            Tooth grinned, “Okay, okay, his interactions with Bunny were impish and not like they were with Sandy, but it should still count! He actively sought out two of us, which must portray some type of friendship.”

            “I too believed that what we did was enough. But it is **_not_** the same. We must consider the fact that when Manny awakened him, he was nothing. He had no identity other than the consciousness that extended only to the ends of his fingertips. No friends, no family. He had nothing to hold onto from his past he didn’t even know he had a past! He had no purpose, no morals or ethics to guide him. You have seen his power; can you imagine if he had chosen a different lifestyle? Can you imagine the damage if Pitch had found him before I- we did?”

Tooth could tell North was hiding something but let him finish out his thought.

            “He could have done anything, but disregarding the mostly innocent pranks, he choose decency and integrity. I believe it takes much innate goodness and strength of will to build from nothing into what he has become. A young man who knows the difference from good and evil. Someone who knows when to draw the line in his actions. Someone-” North stopped talking when he took in Tooth’s surprised yet happy smile.

            His cheeks suddenly tinted pink, he cleared his throat, quickly deciding to cut it short. “Jack is a good person.” He sobered quickly. “Why was he not allowed to know about his past? Sometimes when I think about what a painful existence he must have led, I don’t know what to say to Manny.”  ‘ _There must be good reason, I'm sure there is, but what could be the counterbalance for such anguish?’_ His features darkened once more.

            Tooth was silent as her curiosity grew,  but decided to keep her questions to herself. Thus, when the quick sound of silver bells came tinkling through the sky, they were heard clearly.  

 

            Jack held his hands up to his neck again, hoping for any vestige of coldness to reach his aching throat. But he feels nothing, just like the last time.                                                                                          

            Pitch materialized in his room. A pewter bucket following him on a cloud of black sand. He dips his hands in the bucket and after a few moments takes them out and shakes the excess water from his fingertips, smiling the whole time. He watches Jack for only a moment, more than ready to begin.

            “Jack?” he called softly.

Jack winces but remains where he was, determined to hold onto his willpower for as long as he could.

            Pitch knew he was awake, as he knelt down next to him. He scoops him up and sighs happily as Jack struggles to not turn into the cold hands pressing into his knees and side.

“Pit-!” he coughs out.

            Pitch takes them both to his second cell and drops him on the bed. Jack used the momentum to bounce himself away from Pitch and off the bed.

            But Pitch was expecting just that, he lunged forward and grabbed Jack’s wrists in both of his hands just as Jack came to his feet. Jack felt his knee’s give out at the sudden sensation of such iciness around his wrists.

            “A-hhhh,”  his breath stuttered out of him, as his eyelids closed down at the terrifyingly enjoyable sensation.

            Pitch drinks in the sprites uncertainty, fear and desperately repressed hunger for more. “Come on Jack; tell me you don’t want it.” Pitch holds him up as Jack’s legs refuse to fully support him.

            Against his will, Jack curls his fingers toward the source of coldness: Pitch’s hands. He looks into Pitch’s face, “That’s a dirty fucking trick.”  Jack grinds his teeth and tries to pull back and remain on his feet as Pitch pulls him forward ”Damn it Pitch, let go!”

            He waited until Jack was right next to the bed and then gave a sharp tug on his arms causing him to fall over.

”Pitch-” Jack grinds out threateningly as he fell face first into the mattress.  Pitch could hear the faint overtones of fear underneath Jack’s threatening tone. Pitch manipulated his sand quickly dragging Frost up and turning him, until he was face up in the middle of the bed.

            Jack twists and turns his over-heated body trying to free himself; but the sand held firm against his struggles. He tried to capture Pitch’s hands to stop him from touching him, but couldn’t come in contact with the iciness without wanting Pitch to touch him more!

            Pitch settled his bent legs on either side of Frost’s hips to hold him down, knees pressing into Jack’s hands pinning them to the bed. Pitch looked down at Frost, and watched as sweat beaded above his lips and collarbone. He casually took off his cloak and threw it on the floor beside him, revealing a smooth trim chest, and low slung black pants. He rolled his shoulders making sure to show off each muscle, displaying his power.

            Pitch felt fear emanating from Jack in escalating with each heartbeat. He gazed into Jack’s defiant blue eyes and  hovered his hands above his pale chest deciding where he should place them. Blue eyes glaring dulled daggers of determination and uncertain fear through a haze of unfocused heat.  Then he grabbed hold of Jack’s shoulder blades and watched as his eyes closed, his mouth parted as breath was sucked in.                     

“Jack,” Pitch began, “you look awful.”  He slid his chilled hands over Jack’s collarbones to his chest.

            _‘Somebody, anybody–’_ Jack thrashed his head against the pillows, clamping his teeth tightly together to prevent any sound from escaping as Pitch slid his hands lower, down the midline of Jack’s chest.

"why are you doing this to me?!"

"Because I want to touch you." pitch placed his face next to Jack's, "because I want to taste you," he scraped his teeth down the side of Jack's face, "because I want to feel you." he tugged at Jack's earlobe, loving the way he flinched.

            Jack turned his head to the side squeezing his eyes shut, disbelief that this was actually happening to him forming and reforming in his mind. His  hands clench against Pitch’s restraining knees.

            Pitch commanded his sand, instantly the pewter bowl floated towards him. Pitch once again put his hands in the icy water, and then placed them on Jack’s chest, listening in delight as Jack bit back a strangled moan.

            Pitch’s middle and ring fingers circled around Jack’s nipples, teasing them as the circles got closer to their centers. 

Jack was breathing harder as he looked up at Pitch’s golden orbs, his blue eyes seemed to swell with his anger and apprehension. His lips parted slightly as he whispered, “Don’t,”

Pitch ran his fingertips once over Jack’s nipples, Jack couldn’t stop the slight arch in his back as his nipples contracted painfully.

“Stop! Pitch-”

Pitch ran his hands over them again and again and again, increasing their tempo.

            Jack’s arm muscles screamed with the force he was exerting on them. But no matter how he twisted or pulled, he could not free himself.

            Pitch watched his prisoner with captive eyes as he reached his hand into the pewter bowl, snagged an ice cube, popped it into his mouth and swirled it around. Then he leaned down and covered Jack’s right nipple and licked it with his cold tongue, swirling the ice cube around the peaked nipple.

            A strangled moan escaped from Jack’s lips as he clenched down on Pitch’s knees struggling to free his hands as jolts of pleasure raced up his spine. His eyes were wide open as the sensations crashed through his mind.

            Pitch dragged the cube down Jack’s chest and let it settle in his navel. The cube melted slowly. Pitch watched Jack struggle to control his voice as breathy moans slipped past him when the icy water rolled across his taut abdomen and down his sides. Pitch snagged another cube and after commanding the sand to hold his captive down lifted Jack’s right leg and slung it over his own right shoulder. He held the cube close to Jack’s inner thigh, studying the thin brown material of his pants.

            Jack was trembling, he could feel the cold, so close to his skin _, so close!_ A few centimeters and a scrap of cloth were the only things separating him from the craved ice.The desire to feel more was warring with the demand that Pitch stop touching him. Jack couldn’t focus long enough to give either side a decisive push of willpower.

Pitch pressed the cube against Jack’s leg and hissed in pleasure when Jack clenched his eyes closed. Pitch dragged the cube up Jack’s leg, leaving a wet trail on the brown fabric. He dragged it up and circled the bulge in Jack’s pants delighted to see how heavy he already was. _‘Must have been a while since his last round, but still he is reacting remarkably well.’_

             Jack was shuddering, “Pitc-” The ice cube touched Jack’s center and his body shot upward as he screamed out loud at the sensation.

            Pitch held the cube on top of him, closely following each movement he made, watching the pleasure appear on Jack’s face. His golden eyes were focused, his heart beat faster and he was surprised by how much he liked hearing Frost call out. He held the cube in between his hand and Jack to hold it on top of him. Pitch swallowed once then pressed his hand into Jack’s trembling body.    

            “Pitch, Pitch please!”                                                                        

He pressed in again, and again                                                                   

            “Pitch! Ahh, stop! U-hhhh!” Jack threw back his head as his body arched high off the bed struggling to get away from the teasing touches.                                                      

            Suddenly Pitch’s face was inches from Jack’s. He held another cube in-between his thumb and pointer of his right hand and placing it under Jack’s eye, dragged it slowly down his face. Jack turned towards it, his mouth opened; Pitch lunged forward sealing his own mouth over Jack’s.

            Pitch ran his tongue over the roof of Jack’s mouth, just waiting for Jack to make contact; He didn’t have to wait long.

             Desperate for any kind of relief, Jack sought Pitch’s cold tongue and tried to pin it down, sucking on it as if it were another ice cube. Jack leaned upward trying to catch the relief by pressing himself closer to Pitch's cooler body.  

            The sensation of Frost seeking him out sent a curl of heated pleasure screaming down his spine. Pitch growled low in his throat, and forced Jack’s head back to the pillows by savagely attacking his neck.       

            Jack closed his eyes as the cool sensation licked across his throat; his breath came out in disjointed puffs. “Uhh, Sh–, shit,” he whispered haltingly.                                                               

            Pitch sucked harder when Jack whispered his pleasure out loud. He brought his left hand up to pull on Jack’s right nipple. Jack whimpered and ground his teeth together as chilled pleasure shot into his system. Pitch released Jack’s mouth and looked down into big blue hazy eyes. “Tell me you don’t want it Frost.”  

             “N-no, Pitch-”

Pitch ran the cube in his right hand across Jack’s neck and up over his chin to underline the bottom of his lip. His stomach muscles clutched with anticipation when Jack shuddered in pleasure. Once, twice, three times he swiped the cube across his lips, easily avoiding Jack’s attempts to consume it.

            Jack tried to not want the ice, but it was fruitless. He needed the cold; the heat was going to kill him.

            Keeping his eyes on Frost, Pitch lifted the cube to his own lips and ran it across them, grabbing another when the first melted until his lips were nearly numb. Leaning over Jack, Pitch made sure that each drop from his lips landed on Jack, making him clutch his abs in anticipation and wait impatiently for the next. Pitch took the rest of the cube into his mouth and leaned down close to Jack,  “Tell me you don’t want it,”

“I don’t!” Jack sobbed even as his mind screamed that he did.

            Pitch leaned down even more, cool air brushed over Frost’s face. Jack’s eyes rolled back as the cool air ghosts over his lips, mere centimeters parting him from the source. “Tell me you don-” Jack desperately lunged towards Pitch’s face and pressed his lips against his, unable to help himself.  

            Pitch growled in triumph, as he surged forward his knees shifted, he wrapped his left arm under Jack’s shoulder, Pitch supported Jack’s head with his right hand as he crushed his lips to Jack’s.

            Jack’s suddenly free arms shot upward, needing the cold. He pulled  Pitch’s cool body towards him. His hands dug into Pitch’s bare back pressing their bodies close together. Jack’s mouth opened when the cube in Pitch’s mouth rested against his lips, their tongues fought for control of the cube. Pitch waited until the cube was almost big enough to swallow and let Jack have it, he watched Jack take it into his mouth and seal his lips over it jealously.

             Pitch licked and sucked at the bottom of Jack’s ear, breathing heavily, letting each sound flow into Jack’s ear. His eyes dropped to Jack’s neck and saw his Adam’s apple go up and down as he greedily sucked on the melting ice cube. Pitch felt a lust like no other bolt through his body.

            Pitch squeezed the sheets harshly as his body demanded attention, but he viciously held himself in control. He watched Jack suck on the cube swirling it around in his mouth. Pitch waited until the cube was just big enough for Jack to swallow; and at the moment Jack swallowed the cube, Pitch shifted his knees and ground his hips into Jack’s, brutally rubbing their pelvises together.

            Jack grabbed onto Pitch’s shoulders and pushed himself away while his hips rose higher up into the sensation; “Ahhh-hhhaa” He moaned, his thin pants allowing him to feel the pressure closely. He lowered his hands to clutch at Pitch’s waist and used his foot to press himself upward as he arched his back seeking out the weight, his breath hitching each time Pitch pushed into him.

            Pitch slammed his hands down beside Jack’s head and twisted his hands into the sheets pressing Jack into the bed, over and over, pushing his hips deeper and deeper into the soft mattress. Jack ground his teeth in frustration, and growled in his throat, in his state of mind he couldn’t think about the volume of his voice and what he meant to keep inside was whispered aloud “Uhhhhh, fucking **ha-arder**!”

            Pitch snapped his eyes open and ground into Frost again watching him, suddenly he sat up, raised his hips and in one stroke pulled Jack’s pants down to his knees,  then before Jack could gain control of himself, pounded into him again, grinding together. Jack’s voice got louder each time he was pressed into the yielding mattress at his back. Pitch took Frost’s hand and guided it down to cup his own pale manhood,

            “Fuck…”   Pitch turned his head, needing a respite from the scene before him. Before he could lose himself he ground his hips into Jack while he held Jack’s hand down in between them. Pitch lifted his hips trying to concentrate on what he was doing, and watching as Jack grabbed himself firmly. “Yes…” he hissed out as Frost squeezed himself once and started pumping hard; Pitch commanded his sand to raise him above Frost.

             Jack bent his knees on the black sheets and pumped himself, ”Uh-hhhh, Fuck,” he cursed harshly.

            Pitch could feel himself hard and heavy in his pants, but he waited. He cupped some of the ice cold water and held it over Frosts pulsating member, then threw it over his shoulder, and grabbing the whole bucket, poured what remained over Jack’s hand.

Jack lifted his back entirely off the bed pumping furiously, growling at the intense pleasure.           

            Pitch watched Jack’s face as it was suffused with pleasure and couldn’t wait any longer. He slipped down through the floating sand, ripped off his own pants, kneeled on the bed by Jack’s feet and placing one hand on Jack’s knee began pumping himself in time with Jack, rocking his hips back and forth. Pitch discovered he loved to watch Jack come so close to the edge, and knowing it was all because of him made the high that much better.

             Jack’s toes curled inward as he came, his spray shooting onto the bed and Pitch’s chest. He leaned back into the pillow his head pushing against it as he stroked his length; his eyes squeezed shut, to feel each wave of pleasure as it rolled over him.

            Pitch watched him cum and as soon as Jack lowered himself, exhausted to the bed, Pitch launched himself forward, and held his knees open while commanding his sand to hold Jack’s arms above his head. Pitch thrust against Jack’s sweaty body.  His dark erection rubbed vigorously against Jack’s groin. Pitch ground his hips into Frosts.   _‘So close,’_ he thrust harder, “Open your eyes,” Jack focused on Pitch’s golden orbs and realized what exactly he had done and what was happening. “And it’s not over… yet!”

“NO!”

             Pitch thrust against him once, twice more, and roared out as he came, his seed spurting over Jack’s chest, and face, Pitch strained his muscles again and again riding out the explosive climax as long as he could. Then breathing heavily he dropped his head to Jack’s ear and whispered, “Tell me you don’t want it.”  

“Fuck you Pitch!” Jack yelled as tears ran down his face.   

            “Oh? Did you want to go for real this time? No need for impatience.” Pitch laughed out loud and reached for Jack’s face.

Jack lunged forward as far as he could snapping at Pitch's hand with bared teeth.

Pitch quickly grabbed hold of Jack’s face and turned it to the side easily holding him down. He gently kissed Jack’s neck then sucked harshly at the underside of Jack’s chin.

            “Pitch stop! Why are you-?!”

“Because I want to.”

“…!! Damn it, Pitch, **stop**!”

“I like it better when you were urging me to continue, can’t quite recall what you said through all the moaning though.”

            jack felt his his face heat horribly. “That’s not me, you know it wasn’t me.” Jack protested violently, but even as he spoke he knew he had searched for the pleasure actively.  

“Whoever it was, I like their reactions better, I don’t see why I should give it up.”

            Jack was appalled as the possibility of such a bleak reality unfolded in his mind. “So that’s it? You brought me here just to…to torture?”    

            Pitch didn’t answer as he licked a wet trail from Jack’s neck to the corner of his mouth.

            Jack turned his head to the side trying to hold back tears and didn’t fight Pitch as he made his advances, despair settling heavily through his system.

            Pitch swiped his tongue along Jack’s cheek, and then buried his nose in Jack’s hair. He stopped, suspicious of Jack’s sudden lack of response. He placed his hand under Jack’s face and brought it center. He stopped when he saw the tears building in Jack’s eyes.

            Pitch brushed a tear away with his thumb and looked into his face.

Jack couldn’t stop himself “How can you hate me this much?” he whispered.

             “I don’t hate you. I pity you.”

Blue eyes crashed into gold. “This is how you show your pity?” Jack asked scathingly.

            Pitch scraped his teeth along Jack’s chin.

Jack held his tongue determined to give nothing else away.

            “With me, you could have had everything you ever wanted, believers, acceptance, acknowledgement, even a sort of honest affection. I offered you everything but you actually chose the wrong side. I am not used to being denied, and see no reason to accustom myself to the unpleasant feeling.”

“Saying all this, **doing** all this, only increases my desire to leave you.”

            Pitch nodded his head placating as he held Frost’s hands in his own. “That’s fine,” he said as he concentrated on tormenting the underside of Jack’s jaw once more. “…but I should warn you, from the moment I laid eyes on you I wanted to control you utterly. You’re only escape may be death.”                

            “But why-?” Jack was just able to pull his tongue to a swift halt before he added the “me” to the end of his sentence. Years of being ignored had left him with a bad case of self doubt _;_ shading his every thought, slanting all his conversations, looking for hidden meanings in the conversations of others. _‘I don’t want the Guardian’s to go through this, but of all the options,  why would Pitch choose me? I'm not even a Guardian!’_

            Pitch stopped, and grabbed the hair at the back of Jack’s neck and pulled down as he raised himself above Jack’s face. He placed his lips centimeters from Jack’s and spoke softly.

            “You have lived for some time now,” Pitch answered, “yet nothing about you changes. You teach children that it is fun to do dangerous things.” Pitch stared down at him, then leaned down until the corners of their mouths were almost touching. “Do you know what my job is Frost?” He licked the bottom of Jack’s ear and clutched his pale wrists painfully. “Do you know how every day you make my work harder than it already is? Than it ever should be?” 

            Jack stared wide eyed at Pitch, not quite understanding all that he was meaning.

  Pitch released Jack’s wrists and sat up, nonchalantly settling his weight against Jack’s bare hips.

            Jack looked away, uncomfortably aware of the situation, but unwilling to give Pitch anymore power over him. 

            Pitch commanded the sand, snagged Jack’s pants and tossed them to his prisoner. Suddenly they were both enshrouded with shadows as they sank through the darkness. As they fell, Pitch let go of Jack. He wreathed himself in shadow as Jack was lowered gently to the floor of his first chamber. Pitch melted back through the shadows leaving Jack with nothing but Pitch’s confounding words and his own self disgust.         


	8. Tactics

            At the North Pole, Bunny was impatiently tapping his boomerangs in the palm of his paw as he waited for North and Tooth to arrive. Phil had greeted him almost the instant he had shown up. The giant had told him that North and Tooth would be arriving soon. He had agreed to wait here for them. But what was taking them so long?  The sound of hammers and saws, train whistles and music boxes filled the air along with hundreds of other sounds that would fill a child’s heart with glee.

            He watched the Yetis as they lumbered past with toys tucked under their muscled fur-clad arms and glared, _‘How can they be so calm?’_   He paced back and forth impatience eating away at him. He glanced over at the worktables and watched them carefully chip out a castle from a solid hunk of oak, while making numerous checks against its original duplicate in ice.

            Each yeti had their own table and set of tools. All were busily creating tangible pieces of joy to be opened on Christmas morning. They moved quickly and easily from one toy to the next, determined to make their quota for the day.

             As he was standing there, glaring around, a thought struck him _‘I suppose’_ he mused, _‘they keep plugging away, because they believe that their leader will come back to them with a tale of success.’_ The noise seemed to increase more, his long and sensitive ears twitched unhappily _._ He turned and left the crowded and busy workshop and climbed the steps that led to the sleigh lodge _._ The relative calm was wonderful. _‘Much better.’_ There were only a few yetis and a handful of the elves.  He paced along the wall, out of the way of the small but hurried traffic.

          Jingle-Jingle-Jingle                                                                                      

             He looked up suddenly, ears twitching. He heard it, the faint sound of ringing sleigh bells. _‘About bloody-’_  He paused, the bells were ringing much too quickly. _‘What in the…?’_ His ears flattened a bit then he jumped towards the yetis and started waving madly; “North is coming in _fast_ , clear the runway immediately!”

          JINGLE-JINGLE-JINGLE

 The bells rang much clearer now, the yetis could hear their screams echoing ahead of the sleigh in the ice tunnels.

            Bunny turned to get out of the way and saw a couple of elves with new headphones on, rocking out to Muddy Waters. “Oy! OY! Get out of the way! GE- Damn it!” Bunny tapped his foot urgently against the ground as the bells rang shrilly in his ears, the elves fell through, and the hole closed over just in time for the first of the reindeer hooves to stamp over.

“Bloody hell.” He breathed out as he wiped his long ears back against his head.

            North stood in the sleigh, the reigns wrapped around his hands, “Whoa, whoa!” He tossed the reigns to Phil and jumped from the sleigh, Tooth fluttered after.

            Bunny strode forward, putting his boomerangs in his pouch. “North! Tooth! Glad to see you’re okay,”

            North and Tooth stopped as Bunny approached. Tooth stepped towards him lightly, her feet barely touching the ground as she moved forward. “Bunny! Are you allright? Where did Pitch send you and Jack? Is he…Where is Jack?”

Bunnymund shook his head grimly, momentarily overcome.

  Babytooth flew to her Captain and settled happily on her shoulder. She was still sad that they had been unable to retrieve Jack, but her faith in the Guardians was not one jot less.

            North pushed on Bunny's shoulder causing him to stumble, “Don’t worry, we knew this would be hard; Pitch has more nightmares than ever before. And his strength seems only able to grow.”

             “We have to go back.”

North looked surprised at Bunny’s urgency, “Of course we will, but first-”     

            “Now! Every minute we do nothing, is another minute that we let Jack down!” North and Tooth watched Bunny as his shoulders sagged in sorrow. “I told him not to give up on us, I told him we would come back for him, that he was family, if we don’t go back it was all a lie!”

            North slapped his knee “Did you think we would leave him there to rot? Schnittke! But we need a way to get him and us out safely!”

“But how can we? Pitch is so strong.”

            “What we need to do,” North said thinking out loud, “is weaken Pitch, Let us use our minds, what  are his strengths?”

“Fear.”

“His nightmares.”

“Shadows.”

North nodded, “How can we decrease these things?”

            They all looked at each other in silence as time dragged on, each Guardian trying to come up with a different battle strategy to counteract Pitch’s strength. A couple elves jingled past their feet, Bunny recalling the two elves he had sent to the Warren muttered, “I'll be back,” he tapped the ground and was gone. 

            North and Tooth looked sadly at the spear of green with little white flowers on them that had appeared as Bunnymund’s tunnel sealed over. _‘Adam’s needle…A friend in need’_ North thought sadly.

            Bunny landed on his feet still brooding about North’s question as he was turning his ears.  Off to the left he heard an obscenely happy jingle and followed it. He rounded a bend and almost stepped on a small yellow elf.  ‘ _Yellow?_ ’He actually looked at the elf and saw that it had gotten into one of the many  colored streams. It stuck its hands out to the side in joyous greeting, A second yellow elf came trotting up right behind the first, lugging a light blue egg with white fluffy clouds painted on it. He was also overjoyed to see him and started to bounce on one foot, however the egg in his hand was too heavy for one hand only, and the elf tilted to the side. The hand with the egg in it was so low to the ground that when he dropped it, not one little scratch appeared in its blue covering.        

            Bunny rolled his eyes and flopped on the ground, watching the two elves miserably. _‘How can we decrease Pitch’s strengths?’_    The elf that had dropped the egg  was now hopping from one foot to the other in happiness at having maintained its balance, while its skinny arms waved straight out from its sides. _‘They looked like stars with their arms legs overlapped like that’_ he mused, placing that thought into the painting files of his brain.

               He watched as the abused egg marched towards him indignantly and snuggled in between his large furry and protective paws. Bunny glanced back between the sky blue egg and the dancing yellow elves. He lifted his head abruptly, watching the elves yellow appendages wave back and forth. Bunny jumped up in the air and completely forgetting the elves opened a tunnel to the pole and dived in.

                   Tooth and North stood near each other as they concocted plan after plan to free Jack.

            “My fairies are in there too, I could slip in while you and Bunny draw his attention and free Jack then together we can free the fairies. They are a huge asset to us, they could help restore our power and then we could give Pitch the ass whipping he deserves!”

            North shook his head in disagreement. “We have no idea what condition Jack or the fairies are in. We need to t-”   

“THE SUN!!”

            Tooth and North jumped two feet in the air and looked in alarm at Bunny who had just jumped out of his tunnel and was staring intently at them, Babytooth had fallen off her perch on her captain’s shoulder and quickly climbed back up.

                    “SUN!!”He insisted.

North looked bewilderedly at Bunny “I, I am not your son.”

                 Bunny face palmed.

             Tooth fluttered back to the floor, and said delicately “I am actually female.” Bunny face palmed with the other hand. “ **No** ya bloody- _the sun_! It can weaken all of Pitch’s powers!” North and Tooth exchanged glances of uncertainty. Bunny hurried to explain.  “Darkness is overtaken by the sun, that one is easy enough. Most people sleep at night, while the nightmares are weakest during the middle of the day. Fear has always been easier to fight in the bright light of day.

 “I don’t know Bunny…” 

“Before pitchs spike in power, we were able to beat him back, he has always had fear, and shadows, but the mares are a new development of his power, they are giving him the advantage, with them gone, we stand a much better chance. We have to try, it’s our only advantage!!”

            Tooth laid her hand on North’s big shoulder and murmured, “We don’t have very many options. Damn, I wish we had some kind of insight to where Jack was, in what physical condition.”

“Indeed that would make it easier, but I can’t spare the time to create a spy. Installing the loyalty takes forever.”

“Regardless of any advantages or disadvantages, we gotta get him out of that bloody place.”

 “Alright, but Bunny we have to work together,”

Bunny narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the overly obvious statement, “Yes?” He inquired cautiously,

North and Tooth exchanged glances again, “We have this idea…”   

 

         In the darkness Jack pulled his pants back on and automatically reached for his hoodie. His hand curled into a fist when he remembered he didn’t have it. _‘Damn it. I left it in that white room.’_ He clenched his hand in anger and saw a thick white substance on his arm. He wiped it off on the wall while disgust coursed through his veins. He pushed against the wall and stood, “No matter what you do to me” he shouted, “I know they will take me back, I know they will come Pitch, you hear me! Nothing you do is going to change that!” He sat back against the wall and wiped the thick wetness from his cheeks, “You sick twisted fuck.”

          “And to think that I went to all the trouble to bring you a gift,”

 Jack leapt to his feet and stood at the ready. He bumped in to a sphere of sand and backs away from it.

             He feels a caress on his bare shoulder blades, “Pitch!” He snarled turning around. “Haven’t you had enough for one day?”  His eyes dart back and forth in the darkness scrutinizing every shadow.                                       

          “I could never get enough of _you_ Jack,” Pitch's arms materialized and slammed him against one of the spheres arching his back against it.  His golden eyes gleamed brightly in the darkness. “If you would just mature ten or so years we could live together happily.”

            “It’s not gonna happen Pitch, I told you before, nothing you can do to me is going to change the fact that I don’t want to create a world where I am feared.”

             ”Did you forget?” Pitch draped his body over Jack’s “Your world is whatever I decide it is.” 

He shoved Jack forward and he thumped into a group of spheres. Pitch’s laughter seemed to permeate the small space.

        Suddenly Jack felt himself falling through the floor. Down, down, down…

 

Whump!

 He landed on a soft bed and quickly looked around to get his bearings. A sudden tingling of his senses warned him to move, he looked up and saw the black spheres falling from above. They fell down towards the bed after him as he scrambled out of the way of the barrage. When the last one touched down, they all cracked open and filled his second cell with fresh crisp snow.  Jack touched the white substance in utter disbelief. “I just don’t know what the hell is going on anymore.” He looked away from the ominous bed and glared hatefully at the walls around him. “The least you could do is tell me why!” Jack gnashed his teeth as silence echoed around him.                   

                                            

            Jack’s last words resounded in his mind _. ‘tell me why!’_ Pitch shifted ill at ease. He hadn’t even really given it that much thought. He wanted him in the second chamber because he didn’t want to keep checking on his status. That much was understandable, but the snow? This was the second time he had given Frost large amounts of snow, and he didn't understand why. Perhaps the idea of building his hope up and then tearing it down had crossed his mind. Perhaps he wanted to see how he would react to it, _‘Either way,’_ he decided, _‘I'm spending way too much time thinking about it.’_ Pitch lay back on his bed one hand draped over his forehead the other resting against his stomach. _‘Jack Frost,’_ he thought _‘Even now, he defies me. Where does he get the idea that he is stronger than me? That he has any chance of escape without my exact permission? It would be better to try and earn my favor instead of constantly defying me.’_   He rested his hand on his chest. The memory of Jack as he lunged towards him, seeking him out, sent a curl of pleasure through his center.  ‘ _The eagerness as he sucked at my mouth…’_ Pitch sits up abruptly; “I refuse to be taken in by Jack Frost’s _body_. He is mine to keep and mine to destroy. Gotten justly through battle.”

       An image of Jack sucking on him, his tongue swirling around Pitch’s manhood, formed in his mind. He felt himself growing in his loose pants. _‘I can’t believe this…juvenile, and ignorant creature could provide this much...’_ Pitch struggled for the word. ‘ _Pleasure…distraction? No, entertainment?_ ' He thought for a moment _’ If I really am going to keep him...I would probably, no_ definitely _have to increase the defenses, the Guardian’s would be attacking relentlessly.’_

         Pitch stood and began to pace the room thinking about his next move, _‘I will need to collect more nightmares just in case. Their last attack was much more powerful than I had expected.’_ He had several underground homes, but the Guardian’s knew about the one near Burgess park and a second home in the Ganesh Himal mountain range. ‘ _Maybe we should move for a while–then again,’_ he thought _, ‘if I show Frost the other places, I really will have to keep him forever or kill him before he has the opportunity to tell the other Guardian’s.’_ He frowned, he didn’t like dealing with absolutes.                                                                                         

           Pitch tried to imagine what life would be like if he kept him. Living with Jack for years, an eternity really. ‘ _A slave for all eternity…’_ a very small part of him instantly recoiled at the thought. _‘He will always have to be restrained, always have to be guarded…would always have to be forced. I don’t need that kind of headache no matter how much it would hurt the other Guardian’s. What I need is something to make him bow to my will. Something that I can maintain easily._ ’ The thought of holding the Guardian’s hostage instantly rose to the forefront of his mind, but with their new found strength of will, catching them all would be very difficult, not to mention the fact that they were already on high alert.

 _‘Maybe only one then?_ ’ That would reduce their combined power and give himself a new power over Frost. The idea appealed to him greatly. _‘Nickolas and Frost seemed pretty close, but Aster was the one who went for him first…’_   Pitch tapped his fingers on his chin. _‘No’,_ he thought, ‘ _I don’t want any of  them in my home, I know I can make Frost mine. There must be another way… I just need to-’_ “Ah, I forgot.”

        Pitch turned into a shadow, and appeared in the library. He passes the picture of a little girl, his eyes can’t help but linger even as he reaches for Jack’s baby teeth.  Pitch hefts the tube in his hands and rattles the teeth inside. ‘ _Perhaps I should figure my way into this after all.’_ Pitch tapped the end of it into his hand.  He paced back and forth thinking.

             A sound of a horse’s sharp canter distracted him momentarily from his thoughts. “Come,” he called distractedly.  A black glinting horse flowed from the shadows and circled him once, whispering into his ear. Pitch’s tapping stopped as a smile curved his features. “Tell the others,” he said “we will be ready. We have plenty of time.” He looked down at the golden tube and tossed it once in the air then placed it back on the shelf before walking out of the room.

 

            Bunny flicked off the excess paint and added a few final flourishes to the now multihued shell. The Guardian’s were each in their respective domains readying themselves for their attack. The plan was simple, Pitch would never let an assault on his home go undefended, his pride wouldn’t allow it. They would attack as the sun was reaching its highest point, Tooth would slip in and get Jack and leave through one of North's portals in a full retreat. once jack was safe at the pole, she would return and together take Pitch down.

            Pitch would realize what had happened fairly quickly, and would not hesitate. But he and his underlings would have to come out into the light if they wanted Jack back. Bunny crouched over his table in the Warren thinking about the plan, and trying to imagine counterattacks to possible maneuvers from the nightmare king. A flat rock occasionally served his purpose as both nap or work bench.  Beside the slab of stone sat a basket overflowing with egg bombs. He had run out last time, and didn’t intend on doing that again.

            He paints on the colors to the eggs, imagining each one blowing up nastily in Pitch’s face. Bunny set his brush down and blew on the egg, insuring that the paint dried smoothly and quickly. He set the egg in its place next to all its brother eggs.

            “Okay, next is…” Bunny hoped over to a row of lush ferns. He lifted the fern fronds and picked two or three from the base and handled them gently. _‘This will be a good surprise for everyone but Pitch.’_ He gently laid the ferns out side by side on the rock, then he picked up a single frond and concentrated. as he waved his paw over it from top to bottom. The individual leaves seemed to shine like silver, then the brightness faded. Bunny replaced the frond back on the rock then repeated the gesture to the other three fern leafs.

            After that he picked up the leaves and began pinching off the individual saw-toothed sections until just the single long stem was left.  Bunny scooped up all the fern pieces and put them in one of his side pouches.

            Suddenly he felt a slight ripple of disquiet. He paused and looked around carefully. A shiver of unease shot up his spine, making his ears stand on end. He straightened and looked around quickly trying to determine from where the sense of agitation was originating. His hand dug into his pouch and pulled out two plain white eggs. He fingered them uneasily as he looked around.

            Suddenly his eye caught movement underneath the trees in the distance. He focused his attention on the darkness and felt an alarming shiver go up his spine. “Damn it.” He tapped the ground twice with his big feet and two small portals appeared, he threw one egg into each and closed them quickly. He grabbed his boomerangs and faced the shifting mass beneath the branches. “Come and get it ya overgrown rats!”                 

            The nightmares attacked. Bunny leapt back to get a vantage point. He stood high up on the rocks and pelted the oncoming hoard with egg bombs, “There’s so many…” he murmured out loud as the black stallions seemed to pour in like water into a cracked ship. A little thump of fear tried to wiggle its way into his heart but years of training had taught him how to shove the little worm right back out.

             He needed to think. His paw brushed the pouch at his side, ‘ _I had wanted to save these for Pitch, but…’_ his ears swiveled to the left and he let himself fall back as a nightmare plunged past him. He landed on the ground and ran back to the wilder areas of his domain. Leading the nightmares away from his eggs and home. _‘I need to buy some time for North and Tooth to get here.’_ hard on the thought he dove into the forest’s surrounding his home.

            North was in his workshop sitting in his giant chair, a plate of cookies forgotten at his elbow, as fragments of his interactions with Jack played out in his mind. Behind him, but not far were his swords; they lay gleaming on a work bench, a used wet stone lay next to it. North heaved a sigh. _‘I should have been there for him. I should have done something, instead, I just let Pitch take him! I'm no Guardian.’ A_ strange type of magic went rippling through the air.

            North stood both his swords suddenly in his hands, knees bent ready to attack or defend as necessary. A hole appeared and North relaxed when he recognized it as Bunny's. He lowered his guard waiting for Bunny to appear. But he didn’t, instead a white egg popped out of the ground and rolled over the floor as the portal closed beneath it.

                   North sheathed his swords and picked it up quickly turning it over to see red letters printed: S.H.I.

 _'_ _Send Help Immediately.'_ “Schnit!”

             He pocketed the egg and ran through the doors, “Phil! PHIL!!” A large yeti with intelligent eyes moved towards North with amazing speed for such a huge mass. North beckoned him with his hand as he strode through the toy shop and into the restricted levels.

               “Bunny has just sent for help, it must be bad, he is strong fighter.” North took the egg from his pocket and cracked it open. Inside was an image of the back acreage in the Warren done in what looked like still dust motes. The image didn’t last long before the colors began to fade, soon the picture faded into nothing.. North nodded once as if the egg had confirmed his suspicion.

             He pushed through an old wooden door. Inside was a small circular room and in the middle there was a thick column the size of North’s waist. Studded around it were snow globes and empty divots that used to hold snow globes. He reached forward and grabbed one. _‘Well, just in case, I’d better grab two.’_ He turned back and grabbed a second. Then headed for the door, one hand was on the door knob when he stopped and looked back. _‘Well…’_ he turned back and grabbed a third then strode out of the room.  He tucked two safely into his deepest coat pockets.  The third he shook once, then tossed it in the air. He turned to Phil as the portal burst open behind him, illuminating his large figure. “The shop is in your hands until I get back, keep the yetis in their work line and the elves out of it. I'll be back as soon as I can.” He waved and headed out for the Warren.

 

            Tooth palace was a grand place. Sweeping buttresses and tall elegant columns. The soft hues of pink and gold harmonized perfectly together, making a wonderful home for memories of the young. Everyday Tooth was proud of her work, glad that the man in the moon had chosen her but now she was overcome with doubts. _‘When push came to shove, I had been unable to protect Jack or my fairies. How can I call myself a Guardian when I couldn’t even take care of those closest to me?’_

             She sat on a small boulder and paddled her tiny blue toned feet in the water, the ripples seeming to float away from her with sadness. The very air around her seemed to be heavier, darker. Her delicate hands were folded in her lap, waiting for something to do, but she felt like everything she could do wouldn’t be good enough. Babytooth was curled up on her thigh. ‘ _Here is my only comfort,_ ’ Tooth reached out a hand and gently scooped up the little fairy. “I'm so glad you’re safe…I'm sorry I lost all your brothers and sisters, but I'll get Pitch for this if it’s the last thing I do.”

                  Tooth held the fairy gently as fire burned hotly in her soul, she felt her old warrior instincts return. When she and her Guardian companions had first met Pitch in battle, it was fierce. Long hours of constant motion and then abrupt stillness. Pain, destruction, and sleep deprived bodies were always part of their drawn-out battles. The senseless destruction was what bothered her the most. Broken trees, street lights, cars, sometimes whole buildings were toppled. _'He even wiped out an entire species of plant, what kind of person has such an issatiable  need to destroy?'_

            They had done their best to fight out of the cities, but Pitch seemed to sense their reluctance and used that to his advantage. “That bastard!” Babytooth woke with a startled squeak. Toothina was instantly contrite, “Sorry, I'm working myself up into a bad state. I just need to-” Suddenly there was a little pop of magic, the two fairies looked around warily. This constant state of alert was grating on everyone’s nerves.

            One of Bunny's portals opened next to her. Tooth waited for Bunny to appear but he didn’t, instead a white egg popped up into the air and then rolled across the ground. Tooth leaned over and picked it up. In big red letters was written: S.H.I. Tooth glared at the letters grimly. _‘Oh yes, I'll definitely get him for this.’_ She held the egg delicately in her hand and cracked it open. Inside was an image of the back acreage in the Warren done in still dust motes that faded rapidly.

         Tooth and North had discussed the possibility of her flying powers diminishing, and had handed over two of his globes for her to use. She scooped Babytooth up and set her down on the mossy rock. “Go to the pole, If all goes well, I will meet you there with Jack before four o’clock.”  Babytooth chirped her understanding.

            Tooth reached down for the sword that was at her side. Tooth had learned the art of the sword from North. Unwilling to deprive a Guardian of his weapon, she had decided long ago to acquire one herself.

            It was as long as her arm and well suited her height and size. It was a shining silver color, slightly curved at the tip with a flat guard and a round pommel that allowed her to maneuver the sword in amazing configurations.

                   She stood and walked around the small pond; underneath the branches of a small Japanese maple, two snow globes were safely hidden. She grabbed one and spinning on her heel, tossed the globe into the air and was running at it before the portal had even opened. When she came out of the other side, she was standing in-between the groomed portion of the Warren, and the untamed section, her entire body beset with grim determination.

              Tooth landed on the green grass of the lawn. And pounded away after the obvious hoof prints. She felt a slight ripple behind her and glanced to see North pop out of the portal looking a little disheveled but ready for battle. “This way!” She called and they both took to her original path.

                North quickly caught up with her “Did you get an S.H.I. egg too?”

“Yes, and I am worried, Bunny is a very strong warrior, he would not ask for help lightly.”

            They slowed down only a fraction as they entered the woods, side by side with their swords at the ready.


	9. Power play

              Pitch Black was in the throne room beneath a dark vaulted ceiling, his chin supported by his hand as he leaned on the arm of the stone chair. He had sent a large portion of his nightmares to occupy the Guardian’s. He couldn’t really call it an attack, because he had sent them with only the instructions to hold the Guardian’s attention; No real battle strategy had been planned. Pitch stared off into the darkness thinking about Jack Frost for what he believed to be the millionth time. What to do with him, how to make him burn with pleasure, how to make him distrust the Guardian’s, the way his eyes got big as he was climaxing, the way he fought to get his freedom, how to build trust between them …and how to prevent him from continually sneaking into his thoughts.

              He was awakened from his musings by a call from one of his nightmares. He gestured carelessly and the horse paraded into view. Pitch listened for a few moments then nodded, silently dismissing the creature. _‘So, the Guardian’s are all fighting together again…’_ Pitch had a slight desire to go and see for himself just how well they were doing. He could probably spare a few hours. The fear in the world was finally being felt again, and he didn’t need to spend so much time cultivating nightmares. Frost would be fine on his own for a couple more hours, the room he was in now was settled above solid stone, unlike the first chamber that had a hot spring boiling beneath it, ‘ _He would be fine for–’_ Pitch cut off his train of thought and renewed his vow to not think about him again.

            He stood and pondered his choices. ‘ _Maybe I should go check up on the “battle” Then again,’_  he mused, ‘ _the nightmares that were dispatched should be more than enough to keep the Guardian’s busy all day.’_ and seeing as they wouldn’t attack during the night, he was almost guaranteed a full 24 hours before he had to worry about any kind of assault from them at all.   _‘24 hours I can devote to Frost-To his body-I mean-!’_ Pitch rubbed his temples with one hand in aggravation. _‘Why does that little insignificant **flake** keep popping up in my head!’_ Pitch rubbed his temples harder, then paused. _‘Oh no…‘’Little flake?”  Did I just give him a pet name?’_ A nervous chuckle escaped from him. _‘No, no, no, it was an insult. Yes, an insult.’_

                   Pitch buried his head in his hands as the reality of what was happening settled into his bones. _‘It’s not that I care about him, but that my desire to keep him is fractionally larger than my desire to not keep him…is that right?’_ ”Ah,” he ran a hand through his hair in annoyance. “What is wrong with me?”

            He smacked the arm of his chair abruptly as his simmering anger started to boil. _‘What is this magic that allows him to hold sway over things. Is this what the Guardian’s have suffered through? No, they have much different boundaries than I have, I can’t compare the effects of Frost’s time with them to his time with me. With the Guardian’s he is…’_ The image of Jack smiling, laughing and being happy came to him, _‘With me he’s…’_ The sensation of Jack arching his back beneath him sent a shiver down his spine, eyes filled with hate. _‘It’s– it’s his fault! The idiotic fool, if he hadn’t been so stubborn we could rule the world together and I wouldn’t have to go through this aggravation each time I wanted to taste his body!’_ He stood abruptly and placed his hands behind his back as he paced in front of the throne, his long legs eating up the ground. _‘I need something to put him back in his **proper** place, beneath my regard. I need to make it clear who the master is here.’_  

             The memory of Frost climaxing beneath him made his body twinge with desire. _‘and the master is not Frost’s luscious body, but me, I will have it no other way. I must maintain control!’_

               Pitch immediately turned on his heel and walked into a portal. He stepped into Jack’s cell, and saw the sprite curled up on the snow with the pillow from the bed. His eyes were wide open and watching him closely.

               Jack was _very_ glad he was awake when Pitch popped into his room. He saw the darkness merging into a familiar oval and knew without a doubt that Pitch was coming, but didn’t even have time to get to his feet. Now he felt like a deer caught in the headlights, unsure if he should move or remain where he was.

           The two watched each other for a brief moment.

“I was just in the throne room,” Pitch began spontaneously, “and I realized how much I desired to hear your voice echoing all around as you were screaming my name in pleasure.”

               Jack visible paled and looked away, his blue eyes flickered from side to side trying to think of anything to say after Pitch's painfully blunt statement. His thoughts were interrupted when Pitch continued.

              “Then I thought, ‘Why should he get all the fun?’ So I decided-” Pitch waved his hand in an arc in the air. Black sand appeared on both sides of Jack and came towards him. Jack jumped up off the ground but was encased in a sphere of black sand before he could take a single step in any direction.

           “Let me out!” He could feel the sphere raising in the air and floating forward. “Ouch!” The sand seemed to bunch up and launch into him. He gritted his teeth determined to say nothing.

he could feel himself rise up in the air and move forward,and for a few moments all was silent.

            He could feel himself sinking toward the ground, then the sand dissolved away under his feet, quickly fading into the darkness. He quickly got up and holding his right shoulder, looked around. He was in a wide cavern; to the far right and the left he could see that there was a small passageway that led to a larger chamber but those were the only openings in the dark stone. The place he was in now was empty except for a tall backed chair that was perched on a raised dais. _‘The throne room…’_      

              Jack held his bruised arm and looked around fearfully; Pitch was standing ten or so feet away. 

Pitch turned towards Jack and then walked to the dais and sat. “Come here.”

               “What do you want from me?”

 _‘Your utter compliance…’_ “I want you to come here.”

            Jack considered the option of refusing, but decided against it. He approached the throne cautiously and stopped a few feet before the dais began. He looked up at Pitch carefully seeking out any hints to his next moves.

              Pitch rolled his eyes at Jack’s stubbornness and silently commanded his sand.

            Jack felt himself shoved forward, he threw his hands out and caught himself just before he smashed into the ground. He flipped around to see what had touched him but nothing was there. Quickly he turned to see Pitch watching him.      

                Jack rose to his feet and took a hesitating step back.

“That’s far enough Frost,”   

                Jack’s heart was thumping wildly in his chest as he paused, wanting to keep going, but fearful of angering the one who held him.

"Your'e being surprisingly obediant."

"I don't want to give you the satisfaction of chasing me down."

pitch paused and grinned wolfishly at jack over his shoulder before turning to fully face him. "Then maybe, I need to try a little harder."

            Pitch stepped up to Jack. He placed one hand on Jack’s bare shoulder and applied pressure.

“Down.”

              Jack felt the pressure on his shoulder increase painfully but he would not kneel to Pitch Black.

            “You are foolishly obstinate.” Pitch said as a second wave of sand bashed into Jack’s knees. Jack went down, his hands automatically moving out to brace him as he fell.  

               “I learned that trick from you.” sand slithered over Jack’s palms sealing them to the floor.

            Pitch took a moment to enjoy the spectacle of Jack on his knees. He placed his hand on top of Jack’s head and looked down at him. Pitch took a half step closer so that Jack’s nose was inches from his crotch. Pitch smoothed his hair down over his ears. He cupped the back of his head and gently scraped his fingers along his scalp, imagining his hand forcing Jack to go down on him.

            Pitch watched Jack for a moment longer before he released his head and then turned away from him, showing Jack his back, displaying his confidence.        

               In his mind he could see Jack’s pale skin, his hard yet fearful blue eyes and then his lips. Soft, pale like the rest of his body, yet he had felt those same lips, that tongue fight him vigorously for dominance.

              Pitch turned and faced Frost. He caressed his cheek with one hand.

Jack turned his head away from the sensation.

              Pitch straightened and began to take off his pants. _‘I will make him see who the master is.’_

            Jack began to be seriously alarmed, his leg muscles tensed as he strained his whole body into moving but for all his efforts he was still securely bound,

            Pitch could feel Jack’s fear, but his sand was already in place. There was nothing that he could do now to stop him.

Jack wet his lips nervously, “Pitch, I…“

“You what?” Pitch asked coldly as he stepped out of his black slacks and settled easily on the stone chair.

          Jack looked anywhere but at Pitch.

Pitch beckoned Jack forward, “Come.”

           Jack pushed against the sand that held him down but it was in vain. Suddenly the sand binding him down shifted and he was lifted fully into the air and settled between Pitch's feet.  He surged upward but sand held him back down.  “I'm not going to do it, there’s no way you can make me.”

           “Actually, there are a number of ways I could. Shall I list a few of them?”

Jack was silent as he repeatedly commanded his legs to rise.

          Pitch watched him struggle. He had to admit that he was doing a pretty good job, he had to focus a lot of attention on Jack to keep the sand in place. _‘It would have been harder’_ Pitch thought amusingly _, ‘if I hadn’t known his body so well._ ’  “I could coat your entire body in a thin layer of sand, and control your every move, I could drug you, making you more enthusiastic.”

            Jack’s eyes burned as he spoke, knowing that each method Pitch was so readily explaining was possible. "you must have spent quite some time thinking about it."

"Too much." Pitch watched Jack's eyes for a moment, "I also considered takeing one of the Guardian’s to hold as a hostage.” Pitch could feel Jack’s dismay. “How would you like that? I could clip Toothina’s wings, I could burn the Warren to the ground, I could kill off all of North’s reindeer.”

            “Fuck you Pitch! You heartless bastard!”

He tsked “Your tongue should be put to better use.”

            Jack bent his head as rage bowed his shoulders. “If you touch any of them-”

“What can you to do about it?”

             Jack couldn’t think of a response to that as doubt slithered around his heart.

            Pitch waited for a reply and when none came he put both feet flat on the floor. He could already feel his heart beating a little quicker at the sensations that was to come. “If you care for your precious Guardian’s, then prove it. I'll make a pact with you. If you can make me cum in less than 10 minutes I won’t use them against you.”

            “How can I trust anything you say? How can I believe any vow you make?” Jack snapped out angrily.

             “I suppose you can’t. But based on the speed of your response I can surmise that you have no intention of putting that promise to the test. Because you’re not willing to leave them to chance, are you Frost?"

                  Jack looked away because he knew he was not. His face tinged with pink. “I don’t know how.”

            Pitch felt his penis leap in anticipation, but his voice was only slightly affected when he spoke. “…What?”

                “I don’t know how to do it!” As much as he fought against  it, Jack could feel his face heat up.

“Really?” After seeing Aster’s strong will to protect him, he had imagined the relationship between them was more than Frost had been willing to admit to. _‘Not that I care, of course.’_ “Just pay attention to my reactions. It’s an instinctual thing. You’ll get it.”

             Jack was silent.

“Do I have your compliance?”

“…I'll get you for this.”

            Pitch smiled and released the sand holding him down. He placed a hand against Jack’s face and partially cupped his chin. “Come,” he pulled gently and his heart beat a little faster as Jack followed his lead.

            Pitch brought Jack forward until his shoulders was resting between Pitch's knees. “You know what to do.” Pitch grabbed his chin suddenly and leaned down to speak into Jack’s face. “If you bite me, I will dismantle each of the Guardian’s in front of you. It would last for days.”  He stretched his long arms and carefully settled them on the arms of the chair.

            Jack kneeled there between Pitch's knees commanding himself to do this thing. But he couldn’t move his body.

            Pitch sighed in annoyance and reached for Jack’s hands. He placed them on either side of his lean hips and paused again.

Jack's fingertip's touched pitchs skin haltingly. If it had been anyone but Pitch Black, Jack would have admitted that it was beautiful, smooth but tight over lean muscles,firm and powerful.

“I'm not going to put my dick in your mouth, you can do that much yourself.”

               Jack unconsciously gripped Pitch's side as he cringed from the crude words and heard a slight intake of breath from Pitch. But when he looked up Pitch's face was completely clear of emotion. _‘Almost too blank…’_

Pitch leaned back against the chair, his voice coming out in breathier words “Put your elbows over my knees…”

            Jack looked up and saw Pitch's head was leaning back against the chair, His eyes were half closed, and his chest was raising and falling quicker than before. _‘I haven’t even done anything yet.’_ Jack put his elbows around Pitch's knees but had to lean forward and upward to accomplish it.

           He looked up and saw Pitch was breathing heavier. Jack squeezed once with his hands and saw the way Pitch's fingers twitched on the arm rests.

_‘I can do this, I can do this.’_

_‘Touch me, touch me already!’_   “Frost, if you don’t hurry the fuck up… Just put it in!”

               Jack closed his eyes and leaned forward and brushed his lips against Pitch's manhood. Jack could hear Pitch's indrawn breath. _‘I can do this.’_   Jack brushed his lips against Pitch again but let his tongue slide out to stroke the member. Jack suddenly cringed, his teeth gnashing together.

             Pitch could sense his intense unease, “You’re doing fine, so relax and do it properly.”

            Jack turned back and keeping his eyes closed stuck his tongue out and licked Pitch from root to tip. Jack could feel the tension in Pitch's body double. _‘Well at least I did that right.’_

              Pitch meanwhile was seriously beginning to regret his choice of amusements for the day. He felt too weak, to out of control while Jack was pleasuring him. He didn’t have any power, and had to stop himself from whimpering out loud when Jack licked him. _‘I hardly look like the master here-Damn it.’_ He knew he had been outwitted by his own raging lust.

            Jack brought his face to the tip of Pitch's shaft and without thinking about it too much, brought him into his mouth. Pitch was long and full in his mouth, a sound he had never heard before made him pause. He heard nothing more but was sure it hadn’t been his imagination. He held Pitch's tip in his mouth and then swirled his tongue around it,         

          _‘There it was again!’_ Jack listened closely as he brought more of Pitch's shaft into his mouth. He sucked at the saliva and swallowed it. ‘ _The sound is coming from Pitch!’_ It was a soft repressed moan _.  ‘10 minutes,’_ he thought _. ‘I can do this in 10 minutes.’_

          Jack gripped Pitch more firmly and bobbed his head up and down over Pitch's shaft. His eyes were tightly closed as soft hair was brushed up against his face. Jack bobbed down one more time then as he came up lightly scraped his teeth over Pitch's shaft.

          Pitch's head pressed back against the stone wishing it was the back of a soft bed instead.  Pitch knew that having Jack blow him on the throne would be uncomfortable, but the idea of it, the power in the situation had been too alluring to pass up.

            Jack released his shaft and blew on it.

The cool sensation of wind on his wet and trembling penis made Pitch clench the arm rests harshly.

            Jack flinched back when he heard the stone crunch under Pitch's hands. _‘Okay.’_

Jack looked up and saw Pitch with his eyes closed.  His chest was rising and falling rapidly, and his hands were clenching the stone arms harshly.

            Jack watched his face as he tilted his head hesitatingly to touch Pitch's balls. When the tip of his tongue touched them, sand burst into existence behind the throne. Jack immediately released him and began to back away but Pitch snatched up his wrist.

“Frost.”

            Jack looked up at the sound of his name into the flashing eyes of the nightmare king. His golden orbs were half lidded and hazy with desire. Jack felt a tightness in his stomach as those eyes held him. A strange feeling shot into his mind, a sort of opening, or expanding. _‘I…I  am desired?’_

          “This isn’t going to work.”

Jack’s mind refocused from the heady sensation as he concentrated on Pitch's words.

            Pitch grabbed him and pulled him to his chest before falling sideways into a waiting portal. Jack clung to the only thing he had in the darkness, Pitch.

            They fell on a bed Jack had never seen before. It had dark cool sheets, Jack secretly loved the way they felt on his bare skin.

            Pitch, who had fallen on his back, put his hands on Jack’s shoulders and pushed him down _. ‘Go, go, go.’_ Pitch bent his knees slightly.

Jack took a moment to see Pitch struggle for control over himself. 

          “Frost,” Pitch ground at threateningly.

            Jack quickly crawled down Pitch's toned abs and for the first time saw what it was that he was handling. He quickly took hold of Pitch's stiff member with his hand.

            Pitch's head leaned back harshly in to the yielding sheets at his back. Pitch's hand covered Jack’s head, “Use your mouth, cover me with your mouth,”

            Jack let go of Pitch and encased him with his mouth. _‘I need to send him over the edge…’_ Jack’s expression cleared as an idea came to mind. He breathed in air through his nose and hummed low.

“Ahh-hhhh Fuuhh…”

            The result, Jack thought, were immensely satisfying. Jack did it again this time swirling his tongue around the shaft.

          “Frost, I swear-” _‘Never done this before my ass! What a fucking liar!’_

Jack bobbed up and down listening closely to the way Pitch moaned his name each time.

            “Frost, hu-uhh, Jack.”

            Jack froze for an instant. Hearing his first name spoken by his enemy was enraging. Jack had to quickly grab hold of his anger and lash it down before he said or did anything rash. The thought of saving the Guardians gave him enough time to control himself; and ultimately made him lower his mouth again to Pitch’s member. He could feel the way Pitch's hips lifted off the bed seeking him out. Jack sucked on Pitch's member while he brought his hand up to cup his balls. He squeezed once then let go.

                Pitch swallowed harshly as he gripped the sheets beneath him. He wanted to feel more, we wanted to ram into Jack’s body harder than he ever had before. Waves of pleasure rolled over his skin as Jack sucked on him. _‘I know I told him to go with his instincts, but this is insane… no one has this much innate sexual potency.’_

            Jack felt good being in power for once, not having Pitch loom over him. He lowered his grip until he was holding Pitch's hips in his hands. He sucked on him and began bobbing his head up and down. Humming as he went down and scraping his teeth when he went up.

            Pitch could feel himself building to the end. _‘Damn it. It couldn’t have been more than 8 minutes…’_

            Jack placed his right hand on the outside of Pitch’s leg and began dragging his fingernails up and down, as he continued to suck his shaft, up and down.

             Pitch placed his arms on Jack’s head and put a little more speed and pressure into his movements. “A little faster Frost… and a lot harder.” Jack ignored the hands on his head but followed Pitch's instructions ready to be done with the ordeal.

                  Pitch began moving his hips upward to meet Jack’s mouth, _‘Faster, harder!’_ his mind screamed at him.

Jack could tell Pitch was close by the sounds he was making. This encouraged him to go faster, he could hear Pitch's breath catch in his throat, _‘This is it…’_

            Pitch’s hands clenched Jack’s hair, clenching tightly. “Suck it all, Frost, suck it all dow-” Pitch threw back his head as his climax overcame his senses.  He felt himself cum heavily into Jack’s mouth.

            Jack however, had no intention of swallowing any fluid from anybody. When Pitch's balls lifted upward he was ready. He could feel Pitch's seed fill his mouth before he could move back, but he slightly opened the corner of his mouth and let the white fluid spill out, before hastily resealing his lips. With his mouth sucking on his shaft, he watched the way Pitch twisted on the sheets.

            Pitch felt too good, as if he had drunk an entire bottle of alcohol. His muscles felt warm and loose, his whole body felt warm and loose-- relaxed and one could almost say satisfied.  He lay back against the sheets breathing deeply.

            Jack wiped at his mouth and sat up. It wasn’t until he moved that he realized he was a little more affected by what had happened that he had originally thought. A force of will stopped him from looking down at his restraining pants. _‘No way am I going to let Pitch see this.’_

            Pitch put a hand on his chest and felt it fast paced movement slow to a more regular motion. He leaned up, supported by his arms.

Jack looked up into his face “Did I make it?”

            _‘Make what?’_ Pitch was confused, and then he remembered the deal he made and felt his high evaporate instantly, to be replaced by a sort of deformed jealousy. “Is that all you can think about?”

            “Of course! I did this for them! I know I made it within the time limit, but I want to hear the admittance from your own lips. Did I make it?”

            Pitch was pissed. He was silent as he considered telling him to do it again in less than five but decided to keep his word. _‘Even if I never made that ridiculous deal, I don’t want any of them in my home.’_ Pitch wanted Jack to hate them, not fear for them. He had to fight to make himself believe he wasn’t disappointed. Jack had been thinking about his enemies while sucking him off. _‘And why do I give a damn? That’s what I’d like to know.’_

            “Can I leave now?”

Pitch launched himself at Frost knocking him off the bed and onto the floor.

            “Ouch, damn it, what the fuck! That **hurt**! Get off me!”

Pitch was on top of Frost pinning him to the ground. “I’ve more than half a mind to make you do it again, or do some other sexual favor.”

             “What the fuck for?! I did everything you told me to!” Jack was furious as rage ran hotly through his veins.

Pitch shifted his grip with his legs and sat up higher on Jack’s waist.

            Jack froze for an instant “Get off me!”

Pitch was intrigued by his quick look of unease. He looked down where their bodies joined and paused.

             Jack saw the glee in his face, _‘No!’_ he grabbed Pitch's hand as it reached for his brown pants.

            Pitch placed his hand against Jack’s crotch and felt a twinge in response to the sensation. “It seems I'm not the only one affected.”

             Jack looked away. “That’s enough. You’ve had your fun, now get off.”

“It seems rude of me not to return the favor though…”

             Jack hated the way his body seemed to like the idea.

             Pitch looked into his face. A white substance clinging to his cheek. He looked into Jack’s eyes and saw that they were almost fully clear of lust. That was when he realized that Jack had not desired, he had not wanted it as he himself had. He had chosen to submit for the moment only. When Pitch felt the disappointment sink into his chest he had to struggle not to throttle Frost then and there.

           Pitch stood and then stepping back from Frost conjured a portal. Jack scooted back in apprehension then froze when the blackness migrated beside him.  He looked back to Pitch wondering what would happen next.

            Pitch could see his uncertainty, he turned slightly “I’ll be seeing you later.” then he motioned the portal forward, swallowing Jack whole.

             Jack was swallowed by the portal and spat back out into the second room. Jack saw snow piled up a foot or so high in the corner of the room. He sighed as Pitch's actions once again were counteractive to each other. He scooped some snow up and melted it in his mouth. As soon as the snow was melted he swished it around in his mouth and spat it out trying to rid himself of Pitch's taste.But the memories would last forever. After a few more cycles of melt, rinse, and spit he wiped his mouth off and settled back into the snow. His eyes closed almost faster than he could command them to. Within a few minutes he was fast asleep.

           Pitch meanwhile was fuming as he paced back and forth in the throne room. _‘How did he get the upper hand? He was the one sucking on me, he was the one who was forced, he is weaker than me, he is practically powerless, so how?’_ He sat in the throne with his elbows on his knees and finally decided to attack the problem head on. _‘I need to face this. Just because I am… **intensely** attracted to his body, does not mean I'm going to lose control. I’ve wanted to touch him for a while now; and now that it is happening, and it’s so much more intense than I thought it would be, I'm cautious lest I lose control’. _ He nodded at his sound logic. _‘I know the potential problem, and I know how to avoid it, there is no need to deny myself,’_ he smiled _, ‘or Frost the pleasure of our mutual relationship. It’s not like I'm going to become obsessed. However…’_ his thoughts trailed off as he once more recalled the intense pleasures that Frost had provided.

            He knew that over long periods of time a willing partner was so much more beneficial than an unwilling. There is so much more room to experiment. _‘Perhaps I should try to gain at least a little of his trust. That alone would not destroy the Guardian’s, but to see him only in doubt would give them hope, and that I could spend endless hours breaking down for my own amusement.’_ He tapped his chin thoughtfully and slouched back in his chair as new plans swirled around his mind.


	10. Visitor

Bunny could sense when North and Tooth arrived and as soon as he could, made a beeline for them.

            “North! Tooth!” He called out in greeting.

“Where is the fight?” Tooth called out fearlessly.

                  “Calm down mate, Pitch's nightmares have invaded the Warren, they could be anywhere.”

“Let us go then and hunt.”

                  “I'm all for it mate, but I want us all to be on the same page here. Pitch only sent these minions to hold us off.”

North and Tooth paused.

             “From Jack,” Bunny explained. “There is no strategy, no plan of attack, these beasts Pitch has dispatched were simply meant to buy him time.” _‘Time for what though…’_

                 “We must finish this quickly.” Tooth said speaking aloud their paralleled thoughts.

Bunny nodded. “Be on the alert, there’s got to be over five hundred nightmares in there.” He gestured to the dark trees.

              The companions traveled forward as a group for just above a quarter of an hour. Suddenly the shrill whinnying of a nightmare broke the relative silence.

               “There,” North whispered. He griped his swords tightly as the first wave seemed to prance towards them.  “We have to finish quickly if we want any chance of getting Jack today, we must end it as soon as possible.”

            As one, the horses charged. Tooth and Bunny leapt away from North to gain their own fighting ground. The wave came on and smashed against them. Each Guardian was immersed in a hoard of black hooves and powerful bodies.

            Hours pass by as each Guardian tends to his own enemies like a gentle shepherd; they have time for each of the stallions.  

              One by one each Guardian is led to the center of the Warren. A smooth half bowl in the land, dotted with flowers. In the center of this half bowl were seven different trails which led to seven different continents.

               Suddenly as one the mob of black sand horses break into three distinct groups and flash into three tunnels.

The Guardian’s without a second thought leap after them in hot pursuit.

North to South Africa, Tooth to Europe and Bunny to Asia.

 

            North looked around the barren hilltop. All around him were the remains of a rabid forest fire. Charred trees surrounded him. A thick layer of ash coated the ground. The last five nightmares fit the scene perfectly. They appeared through the dim hazy smoke like, well…a nightmare.

            Their glowing yellow eyes shone brightly through the haze. As one they attacked; their hooves glinting dangerously in the dim lighting.

            North threw himself to the side and then stood on his feet and quickly lashed out with his swords, easily cutting the nightmare down. With quick steps he sliced into the next beast and cut it down too.

            The remaining three nightmares were already leaping at him. He turned his sword so that he was attacking with the broadside. Using his great strength he shoved one of the nightmares into the other two, the three went down and North leapt forward slashing at any black sand that moved. After a few moments of stillness the sand dissolved away. North took out a globe and threw it; he stepped into the swirling matrix of white and stepped out onto the clear skies of a mountaintop. He looked around at the clear sky with defeat. The day was almost done. From where he was it would be close to six o’clock and darkening quickly at Burgess; too late to put their plan into action.

            North shook the remaining sand from his shoulders “Blin,” he muttered as he looked up at the twilight sky. He reached into his cloak and pulled out a snow globe and threw it angrily then tromped into the portal heading for the pole.

 

            Tooth had followed a group of the nightmares into the tunnel with Asia over it. She chased the nightmares from Romania, to Poland, to Germany, then to Italy. Finally she had whittled their numbers down to four. The sun had passed overhead hours ago, the light was dimming, already she knew it would be foolish to attack Pitch now. Even if she could instantly magic herself and the others to burgess, Pitch would own the field in a matter of hours.

            She stood behind one of the massive columns in the coliseum as the nightmare trumpeted past. Her wings fluttered impatiently. She was tired of this constant game of hide and seek, she wanted to destroy them now. She looked up at the sky and wanted to slice the nightmares to pieces. _‘If not for them, we would have Jack back by now!’_ She glared around the column and saw the last few nightmares roaming in-between the columns searching for her. ‘C _ome on wings…’_ she fluttered silently up into the air. The horses pranced around her column confused by her smell yet absence of her.

            _‘It seems as if they don’t have a collective memory, which is great, because that means I don’t have to keep coming up with new ways of attacking them._ ’  Tooth was glad for it and was determined to share her findings with her fellow Guardian’s, _‘_

             “Up here pony!” The black nightmares turned to look up at her, trumpeting their pursuit. Tooth flew around the white column and dived at the oncoming nightmares. She spiraled downward twisting her body into a murdering tornado. “Hiyaaaaaa!” Tooth barreled across the nightmares, slicing deeply into their glinting backs with her razor sharp wings.  Tooth smiled at the twin cries of anguish as they were destroyed. Tooth floated above the ruins waiting for the next attack. But none came. She looked up at the sky, as the sun began to set. “Sorry Jack.”

 

            Bunny stood atop one of the buildings in Tokyo.  Nine nightmares had encircled him waiting for his next move. Bunny had quickly taken out most of the nightmares that he had followed. He looked around carefully watching and analyzing the glimmering horses. He noticed that some were standing on the roof tops, some were in the air.

            The boomerangs in his hands were tingling, he calmed his breathing and then quickly tapped a foot on the ground then flung one boomerang through it.

            Seeing him with one less weapon, the nightmares attacked; he leaped up into the air and saw his weapon appear out of a hole some twenty feet behind the ring of nightmares. It whistled towards them and sliced through three unsuspecting enemies before returning faithfully to Bunny's paw.

            He twisted midair and flung both boomerangs out at an approaching nightmare then kicked out with his back right leg catching a horse right across the face with his heavy paw. He fell back to the roof top and kicked off once more, snatching the boomerangs out of the air as he launched himself across an alleyway and onto another roof. He skidded on the roof and pivoted to the left just in time for two of the nightmares to plunge past him.

            He flung one boomerang out and turned immediately to his left again he gripped the curved weapon and slashed through another two horses.  He leapt in the air and snagged the boomerang before crouching back to the roof looking for any more nightmares to annihilate. The last two nightmares watched him carefully shifting when he shifted.

            Bunny tossed his weapons with easy familiarity. He looked up at the sky and knew there wouldn’t be enough time to mount an attempt on Pitch's lair.  Anger clouded his eyes as he deliberately put his boomerangs back into his pouch and faced the nightmares with nothing but his bare hands.

            The nightmares shuffled back and forth then lunged forward, Bunny snaked his long arms around one of the horses and barrel rolled it down to the ground, he took all his pent up frustration and used it to slice his shielded arm  through the nightmares chest severing it into two separate distinguishable pieces.

            He rose and shook the sand from his blue fur before turning towards the oncoming horse. Bunny was waiting its approach with a sick sort of eagerness. _‘Come closer, let me rip your head off for you.’_ The nightmare attacked and Bunny again snagged it around his neck he pinned the nightmare to the ground.

            He pulled out a boomerang and sliced across its neck cleanly. The nightmare dissolved with a shrill whinny. He looked up at the sun as it sank low enough to barely kiss the horizon. He turned from the sight with sagged shoulders.

            On top of the roof he tapped a foot against the hard concrete then jumped into it with a listless and defeated stance.

 

            Babytooth sat at Jack’s window watching the white frozen landscape. The stillness made her feel the loss of his absence even more. All she could do was hope for his safe return. But even so, she hated the fact that she could do little to help. She looked out the window again at the pole and was filled with dismay as the sky got darker and darker.

She knew there would not be enough time to get Jack today.

            She thought back to the last meeting the Guardians had. She had seen the spies that North had spoken of, little toy soldiers all dressed in black that could infiltrate the darkness and see with special eyes. But just like North said, it would take weeks to make one. The body alone was made in a twinkling, but the loyalty, that took time. If the creator rushed the project or got distracted, the end product would be faulty, and unreliable. What they needed was a soldier with loyalty already installed.

            She stood suddenly, and touched the cool window pane before jetting off down a hallway and into the night sky.

 

            Jack was dreaming; he was being flung around carelessly by the wind, his staff was gone but he felt safe and secure. Over the howling of the wind a strange noise came to him, it was high in tone and was like a collection of very short sounds. He peered around but saw nothing except the pale blue of the early morning sky, and the snow quietly drifting down adding another layer to the thick bed of snow, he smiled. The short high pitched squeaks came more insistently. His eyes flickered open to see the familiar dark cave around him, he turned his head as the familiar chirping noise continued. _‘It can’t be…’_

            He looked around him carefully as the sudden thought of Pitch's trickery came to him. So he waited, the noise came again and Jack swiveled his head upwards towards the ceiling.

            In the half light he could just make out the little divots in the ceiling when he noticed a small something that seemed to be crawling out of one of the divots. He jumped to his feet his hands instinctively tightening. How he wished for his staff!

            The chirping noise came again.                        

“…Babytooth?”

            It was indeed. A small blur of shimmering green flew straight at him and buried itself in his out stretched hands. “Babytooth, you’re okay! Bunny told me you made it back alright but I was so worried,”  Jack held out his hands to examine her. “Are you really alright?” He looked her over quickly and saw that she was perfectly fine.

            “How did- No. Never mind, now listen to me, you have to leave, if Pitch catches you here he’ll do something awful. You have to go.”

             Babytooth shook her head stubbornly. Jack couldn’t help the small smile on his face. “I'll bet you didn’t tell the others where you were going did you?”

Babytooth shook her head proudly.

“That’s bad.”

Her shoulders sank as she chirped questioningly.

            “Because I don’t have any way to protect you here. Now listen,” Jack cut her off as she began to protest. “You have to go back to the Pole. Tell them that I'm fine, but you have to leave now.”

            Babytooth zoomed from his open hand to the foot board of the bed chirping uncertainly.

Jack was instantly by her side.  “It’s not like I'm not happy to see you, but coming here by yourself is too dangerous. I’m not worth it.”

“How noble.”

            Jack snatched the little fairy in his hand and held her tight behind him as he whirled to face the nightmare king. He held Pitch’s gaze as he hid the little fairy in his fist _._

 _‘And how untrue’_   Pitch leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

 “One would think that the Guardian’s would have trained their pets better.” 

            “She isn’t a pet,” Jack snarled, “she’s a friend. Not that you would have any idea what that was.”

Pitch was smirking as he stepped towards him. “No. I wouldn’t.”

            Jack was surprised by Pitch's words, but was quickly brought out of his thoughts when he felt Babytooth pushing violently against his hand, he knew how much she wanted to get at him for taking all her brothers and sisters away.

She pushed harder.

“Stop!” Jack warned. Babytooth stopped struggling.

Pitch pulled up short at his unusually firm command.

“Why should I?”

Jack blinked once, realizing that Pitch thought he had been talking to him rather than Babytooth.

 “Get out of here.” He spoke clearly. 

            Pitch smirked, “Did you really think that was going to work?” He took another few steps forward. Jack began to take a few back.

“I'm telling you to get out of here this instant!” Jack gently squeezed his hand and then opened it behind his back.

            “If you don’t leave this place right this second, I'll never forgive you!” Jack felt a small hand press lingeringly into his own.

Pitch was surprised by his choice of words and was just beginning to be suspicious, when Jack leaped forward and tackled him to the ground.

            Pitch’s breath whooshed out of him as he was thrown down. He lifted a hand to send it after the little fairy that he saw scurrying up one of the vents he created.

Jack gripped the out stretched arm with vicious determination and wrenched it downward, imprisoning it between their bodies.

            “Frost!”

            Jack inwardly cringed at the anger in the voice but resolutely held on. The fear of losing Babytooth was heavy in his mind, making his heart beat fast, but he had to hold on long enough for her to get away. No matter what Pitch did to him after.

            Pitch silently commanded a few of the nightmares to hunt down and retrieve the little fairy then turned his attention to Jack who still held his arm pressed tightly between them.

Pitch let his body relax and waited for Jack to take notice of it.

            It didn’t take him long, Jack felt the difference almost instantaneously. The fear that wrapped around his heart kept him locked around Pitch unable to let him go, knowing that if he did he would be free to attack.

“How long are you going to cling to me?”

Jack was silent.

Pitch lifted a brow.

            Jack’s eyes snapped open as sand surrounded each of his fingers. A layer of sand grew between them and Jack was soon lifted off Pitch; struggling uselessly in the air.

“I _can_ control the sand with my mind, I don’t have to move my body to do it.”

Jack’s face burned brightly. _‘Stupid! Of course he can! I was so fixated on Babytooth’s safety that I didn’t think.’_

            Pitch shifted to a more comfortable position on the floor and watched as Jack fought to get back to the ground.

“What a precarious situation to be in.”

            “Let me down!”

“If you join with me I never will.”

Jack struggled then froze as he thought about what Pitch had said.

            Pitch meanwhile was cursing his tongue to the farthest reaches of the earth. _‘Damn it all to hell! Why did I say that?!’_   but he refused to break eye contact with Frost, knowing that he had meant every word he said.

            “Seeing you this way, knowing that this is the way you would treat an enemy, hardens my resolve to not be involved with you.”

“Then I hope you enjoy disappointment.”

“Back at you.”

Pitch felt a vein begin to throb in his head.

            Jack felt himself shoot up into the air then fall back down only to be caught again by the sand. It formed a shelf beneath his feet and he was able to stand evenly. He steadied his feet and looked down at Pitch trying to understand what he was getting at. Suddenly the ground shifted beneath him and he had to lunge forward to keep upright. Soon he was running on the sand as if it were a moving conveyer belt.  Jack felt his anger rise.

“Pitch!”

“Frost!”

Pitch watched him struggle for a moment, “You seem to be under the impression that I view you as an enemy.”

“Of course I do!”

“I don’t want you as an enemy, but an ally.”

“And this is the best method you could think of to convince me?” he panted as he struggled to remain on his feet.

            “This may not be the best way, but I’ve never had to convince anyone before. I'm content with this method of persuasion–for now.”

“I can’t give you anything, so you might as well give up and–”

            “Haven’t I already told you? I’m a selfish creature, I will invariably get what I want. YOU are the one who might as well give up.”

            Jack snarled as the speed seemed to increase. _‘To hell with this!’_ Jack abruptly stopped running. He bent his knees, and zoomed off the cloud of sand. He shot backwards and fell down to the stone floor, landing on his feet.

            He turned to face Pitch and was immediately caught in a huge fist of sand and lifted several feet from the floor. Jack was silent. Speech was useless. He breathed deeply through his nose and watched Pitch.

“Perhaps my methods were not the best, but at least they were _honest_.”

“….”   _‘Pitch is trying to make me doubt the Guardian’s… but I’ve already been there and was so wrong… I'll never doubt them again.’_

            Pitch was annoyed at his silence. Time lingered as they studied each other. Pitch was uncomfortable under the close scrutiny. “The Guardian’s-”

            “The Guardian’s treat me like an equal, they respect my space, my privacy and care about me and my happiness. Can you claim even one of these things?”

Pitch felt anger build up in him but he held it back. “Is trust counted among those virtues?

Jack thought back to when Pitch said about friends. ‘ _Does he even know what it means to trust another person?’_ His voice was soft but heavy with a pained sort of sadness. “Pitch.”

Jack’s low voice caught him off guard, the look he was giving him did not fit his situation either. It verged on the pitiful.

            “I'm never not going to believe in them.” He shrugged as much as he could, imprisoned as he was in a grip of sand. “Nothing can be done about it.”

“You don’t know everything about them Frost,”

“I don’t have to, because…” Jack slowed his words as if he was just discovering the truth of them himself. “Because I- trust them. they came for me, even though I betrayed them, they still came back for me.”

            Pitch was rendered silent. _‘Betrayed?_ ’ Pitch mentally shook his head. This conversation was going in just about the exact opposite direction he had intended. Instead of planting a seed of doubt he seemed to have nurtured the relationship between Jack and the Guardian’s, increasing the strength of their bond. Pitch looked up into Jack’s sad but direct blue eyes. His unwavering scrutiny was annoying to withstand.

 “Perhaps you’ve become enamored with my face already Frost?”

            The sadness in Jack’s face cleared and Pitch had to fight the small sense of satisfaction for banishing it. Even if it was replaced by anger.

“The hell I am!”

            “Too bad, with that kind of devotion I would have considered letting you outs…” Pitch paused at the look on Jack’s face as he turned away from him.

It was shock, anger, and sorrow.

            Jack felt as if he had been stabbed. He turned back to Pitch and watched him flatly through hard eyes.

Pitch was silent as a strange feeling of something close to shame overcame him _. ‘Perhaps that was too callous.’_  “Jack,”

            Jack’s eyes betrayed a flicker of intense emotion but he quickly blanked it from his eyes, maintaining his neutral expression, and spoke in a quiet and even voice. “What?”

            Pitch didn’t know how to continue, _‘It’s not like I'm going to apologize...’_ The pause between them grew longer. Pitch felt the awkward sensation rise.  Suddenly he rose and without a word left the room.

            Jack watched him go as anger seethed within his chest. His eyes burned after Pitch and stared at the blank wall for a few moments after he left. Then he realized what a strange picture he would make. Standing in the midst of a giant hand, made completely of sand, floating a couple feet off the floor. Suddenly he felt his body slide through the sand, His feet touched down on the floor gently as he watched the sand disappear.

He remained standing for some time then buried himself in the snow at his feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blin means damn it in Russian.


	11. Stronger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI: First real yaoi scene!

             Pitch was too agitated to sit still. ‘ _Had I really been on the verge of apologizing?’_ He wouldn’t have believed it if the urge wasn’t still there. He found the act of apologizing revolting. It demonstrated weakness, a lesser person apologized, he, the Bogeyman, the veritable **King** of Nightmares was not a lesser being.

‘ _Trust…’_ could he even recall the last time he had trusted somebody? He knew it would have to be in his human life.

            Of course, there were those he had to deal with after becoming Pitch Black. He had to put a little faith in them, but that was usually backed with a few good threats.

If it is really that important to Frost then he must attain it… _’Because,’_ he added quickly _‘I need that trust to divide him from the other Guardian’s.'_

            ' _Before I can walk that road, I need to repair it.’_ Maybe instead of an apology, he could do something for him. Going outside was out of the question. That would be like rubbing salt in an open wound. _‘Something like a treat, or gift. No no, no not a gift, a… a reward for being so…’_ Desirable? Interesting? Beautiful? _‘…Compliant. Now what should it be? Not anything that could remind him of the Guardian’s. Nothing that he could use against me.’_ he smiled wickedly. ‘ _Maybe something we could use together.’_ He smiled wider, but then quickly shook himself out of his thoughts. _‘Not for me, for Frost. I’ve got to put his wants before mine…’_ He paused _. ‘Well… that’s certainly a switch.’_ Even thinking it sounded strange.

            He stood straighter as an idea popped into his head, _‘How about something to eat? Like… chocolate or…strawberries, or hot melted caramel...’_ his smile began to be more pronounced. _‘Stop thinking about his body!!’_  He focused on the foods he could get. _‘Fruit, bread, cheese, some chocolate is okay, but it’s for him, it’s **not** for me._ ’ The idea of Jack licking him free of chocolate began to form in his head, _‘No. NO. **NO**.’_ Perhaps he should abandon the idea- ‘ _and think of something else,_ ’ he added as his gut twinged with the strange sensation of guilt.

             Pitch knew very well that the Guardian’s, as well as himself could be indifferent to food. The pleasure of eating was not diminished in them, only the necessity of it. Centuries had passed before he himself had proved it.

            Learning that lesson was one of the best things that had happened to him. Even though it had taken him almost twelve weeks to learn it, he would have gladly undergone twice that.

* * *

            After the Guardian’s had first arrived, Pitch had been defeated, utterly. He was unprepared; so unexpected was any kind of counter attack, that he had been thoroughly overwhelmed. He had not felt such despair for a great many years. The anguish only served to dredge up the long buried memories of pain. Memories that he had been able to sink beneath years of darkness and fear.

            He had fled the Guardian’s, and with the last of his strength managed to create one more portal. He stepped out of the portal and found himself in a dark part of a twilight forest. He was still as he listened for the sound of pursuit. He collapsed back onto the forest floor and thought about his incredibly quick descent from power. He laid back against the carpet of pine needles, and there he remained lying in the deep of the woods.  Not eating, not speaking, only reliving all the horrible things that happened to him.

            He had always known, that if a body did not eat, no nutrition would be received. The body must waste away and die. This was exactly what he hoped for.  An endless parade of silent hours passed him by as he waited for his death. He thought that the creature he had become must die somehow and in some way. 11 weeks and some odd days later he had been awakened. A familiar sense was coming to him. A smell, almost tangible. It was fear. It was nearby. _‘Should I attend to it? Should I forget it entirely? By now I wouldn’t be able to move anyway…’_ Suddenly a loud noise drew his attention, a Russian accent was making its way through the trees towards him. _‘It’s them!’_ his mind hissed.

             Before he could realize what he was doing, he had jumped up into the air to face the pursuing Guardian’s with no more difficulty than when he had first laid down. Unbeknownst to him it was only a couple of hikers who were lost in the woods. But when they pushed through a bush he gave them no attention. He placed his hands on his chest and felt the same strong muscles, the same plump skin. Like no time had passed at all.  He didn’t even feel shaky or weak. He didn’t even feel hungry! His shock was astounding because he had truly believed himself to be dying, He had believed himself to feel it.

            ‘ _This is it’_ he thought _‘I'm just going to exist forever with no one, with nothing besides the old aching memories.’_ He looked back at his place of rest and realized that there was a perfect outline of where he had laid. Grass had grown beside him but underneath the pale roots were on the surface trying to live. Pitch smiled grimly. _‘They were the stronger ones,’_ he thought _‘because they struggled to survive in adversity. Just like me.  Just like me I am forever here no matter what I burdens I bear, I will endure.’_   Pitch never forgot that day when he had so completely fooled himself. Mind over matter. That lesson  was the starting point of his new life. _‘I can do anything, be anything, have anything as long as I believe I can do it. ‘_  It was the starting point of his counterattack.

* * *

            A few hours later, Pitch found himself standing in his kitchen over a platter of chilled grapes, strawberries, warm bread, some cheese and some chocolate. The countertops around him were spread with splattered bits of food that had been thrown in frustration, piles of fruit, mounds of cheese, and stacks of bread; all of different sizes, shapes and flavors.  “Unfucking believable.”  He wiped his brow as he thought again of anything else that he should add to the platter or perhaps take away. _‘No, I'm going to stick with this, if he doesn’t like it that’s not my problem.’_ But there was nothing else; he had put too much thought into it to have missed anything crucial. He grabbed another bottle of water and chugged it down. “Unfucking believable!” _‘To spend over two hours debating what to give my **prisoner**.’_ “Two fucking hours!”  He slung the bottle against the wall in anger.

It wouldn’t have taken this long if he hadn’t spent so much time looking for the perfect addition.  

            At first he had piled on many different types of foods, including more than a few chocolates, when he had stepped back to gauge the result. He realized that he had a mountain of food that almost covered the plate entirely _. ‘I wouldn’t be able to even lift that thing without toppling half the food._ ’ He gazed at it with scrutinizing eyes, then removed all the food and started again. He picked up a firm yellow pear and studied it for a moment noticing a faint blemish on its yellow peel. He frowned, then grabbed an apple, inspecting it as well only to find a soft spot near its base. As he went through the pile, he grew more and more dissatisfied. He had quickly chucked the pear into a portal and then stepped through a second one. He stepped out into a bazar looking for a new pear, then thought while he was here he might as well find a better apple...and a new plum. Going from stall to stall undetected in the evening light, searching for the right one.

            He spent considerable time hunting down the most perfect pear, the plumpest plum, the freshest bread, the best of everything the world could provide. He had traveled to orchards in a moment’s thought, had visited bazaars in an instant. He had brought back a veritable bounty of rich goods all because he didnt want Jack- his **prisoner-** to think less of him.

            Back in his own home, he glared hatefully at the platter. “What is wrong with me?… What is wrong with him?! What makes him so, so…” _‘irresistible?_ ’

 _‘Jack Frost is many things but he is not irresistible.’_ As if to prove it Pitch plucked off all the chocolate from the platter and put it on the table. Then he balanced the tray on his left palm and in his right he carried a jug of cold milk.

He walked through the kitchen and was just about to go through the open doorway when he stopped, indecision wracking his brain. ‘ _Just leave the chocolate there. He is not going to die if he doesn’t get it!’_ But the urge to give it to him was still there. _‘Look at yourself! Struggling over a small decision like this! And one of such insignificance.’_ Pitch felt his anger flare he released the platter and jug, commanding the sand to bear them up in his absence.

He strode back to the small piece of sugar on the counter top, opening a small portal, then snatched the piece of sugar off the table and raised it high over his head with the intention of throwing it through the portal.

            Pitch felt himself grind to a halt as indecision wracked him. He stared into the innocently quiet black void.

 _‘I am going to do whatever I want to make me happy. I don’t give a damn what he thinks of me. Whatever **I** want to do…’_ Slowly he lowered his hand, then replaced the chocolate on the table. The portal closed silently. Pitch turned from it just as quietly and reclaimed the platter, placing it down on the countertop. He picked up each piece and put it back on the tray. Then took hold of the platter and jug. The fact that he, ultimately did not regret his actions was not lost to him nor were the ominous implications.  

He stepped through a portal and into Jack’s room pushing the matter from his mind.

            He placed the platter on Jack’s nightstand along with the jug of milk as the sprite slept soundly in the pile of snow across the room. He glanced back at the beds unwrinkled covers _. ‘Still sleeping on the floor like an animal.’_

             Pitch hadn’t thought about his time in the woods for centuries. The lesson had so frequently ran through his mind that he no longer needed to think about its origin’s. Only the mantra remained fully intact, Mind over matter. Mind over matter. Mind over matter.

            Pitch stepped back and watched Jack’s peaceful face break into a small smile, probably the only time he would smile in his home. He quickly hid himself in the shadows as Jack’s grin grew wider. Pitch watched as he snuggled down into the pile of snow and then cracked open his eyes. 

            Pitch saw the smile fall from his face like a stone, and at the same time he felt his fear rise. Jack’s shoulders trembled once but he seemed to be able to gain control quickly. He rose quickly to his feet and walked the length of the room rapidly; swallowing thickly every once in a while. Suddenly he stopped. He breathed deeply through his nose and then exhaled through his mouth. He repeated the strenuous respirations a few times and his heart rate slowed. Pitch could feel the fear melting away. “I will survive this.”

Pitch thought about Jack’s words and his own memory. _‘Jack Frost may be stronger like me.’_

            Jack went to sit down on the floor but paused when he saw the platter of fruit.  Relieved to have anything to alleviate the boredom, he stepped to the platter of food. His eyes grew wide as saucers. “Chocolate!” He moaned in quiet ecstasy.

Pitch felt a flash of fire sizzle over his body at the sound.

One pale hand was halfway to the platter when Jack paused, “I’ve got to be careful. Not too much…” He reached out again for the chocolate, then stopped, amazed at his own stupidity.

            Pitch moved in between the shadows and stepped out behind him. “It’s not poisoned.”

Jack leaped forward, and spun  around to see Pitch picking up a small cluster of grapes.

            Pitch popped one in his mouth and swirled it around remembering when he had done the same with an ice cube.

Jack had to beat back a blush as the same memory surfaced. He forced it away and focused instead on maintaining his distance from Pitch.

            Pitch sat on the bed comfortably and popped another grape into his mouth. “Have some; you are going to need your strength.”

Jack looked up suspiciously but didn’t say anything.

            Pitch shrugged and broke apart a piece of the bread, warm air wafted from it. He held out a piece to Jack, “Take it.”

            Jack didn’t know if he should or shouldn’t. He wanted desperately to make the ground between Pitch and himself even. But how?

 Pitch turned to him, “Take it now or I will feed it to you myself.”

            Jack shot him a nasty glare but decided overall he was unwilling to give Pitch another opportunity to lay hands on him; he marched towards him and snatched it from his fingers before quickly backing away.  

Pitch stood and Jack flinched back, ready for any sudden movement.

            Pitch grabbed a different cluster of chilled grapes and popped one in his mouth. Then suddenly his hand whipped out as he threw them at Jack.

            Jack reflexively caught them. They stung as they whipped into his hand, His hand spasmed at the pain, crushing them. He dropped them quickly, looked up at Pitch accusingly, only to find him inches before him.

            Jack threw himself backwards and slammed harshly into the wall a few inches behind him.  

Pitch was not touching Jack but stood very close as he looked into his eyes “Don’t fight me,” he threatened.

            Jack’s hands balled into frustrated fists at his side, “What do you expect me to do? Just let you hurt me?”

            “I expect you to act in a manner that will allow your life to continue.” Pitch stepped towards him, “I know that you enjoy the things I make you feel.” He stepped closer still as Jack struggled with indecision, crowding him against the wall.

            Jack looked away. He was afraid that he was going to like it again, that he would betray his friends and himself. Again. He was afraid of how much he already liked it. The sensation was one thing but the action of being so closely tied together was something in itself entirely. ‘ _He’s too close, too close.’_

            Pitch encased Jack’s writs with his own and licked the grape juice off each finger. He placed his left hand on the wall near Jack’s ear, and leaned in close, making sure that Jack could hear all the sounds he was making as he sucked at his fingers.

“Pitch-”

Pitch slammed his hand into the wall beside Jack noiselessly commanding silence.

            He took Jack’s pointer finger into his mouth and sucked on it, then added his middle. He slid them sensually from his mouth and grazed his teeth across his palm. He tongued the base of his middle and ring fingers. Then opened his eyes to see Jack watching his hand with a horrified fascination. Pitch's eyes raked over Jack’s oblivious face. His blue eyes were wide, his lips parted slightly. Pitch felt his breath shorten in anticipation and could clearly see the same reluctant reaction in Frost.

            He took a moment to listen in to Jack’s fears. It seems as if he wasn’t afraid of the physical sensations, but rather of enjoying them too much. Pitch sucked on his palm scraping his teeth along his sensitive fingertips, loving the sound of a distressed whimper. He moved Jack’s hand between their face’s and caught Jack’s eye. It was big, and blue. Pitch scraped more firmly as he held Jack’s gaze, surprised that his clothes did not instantly disintegrate from his scorching eyes.

Jack felt a now familiar pooling of heat in the bottom of his stomach, his breath wanted to come quicker. He could only stare, wondering how it was that Pitch was affecting him so, and more importantly _why_ Pitch seemed to _want_ to affect him.

             “Pitch…” he paused as half formed pleas and useless bargains formed in his mind. His hand trembled as it was enveloped in the heat of Pitch’s mouth once more. He turned his head and closed his eyes, but that only made it worse. With his eyes closed all he could see was pitch black all he could hear was the sounds he was making. All he could feel… He opened his eyes again and tried to think of a way out of his situation.

            He wanted to pull away, he wanted to be closer, he fought both urges and the only thing that came through clearly was the desire to choose for himself while in a calm and unaffected temperament.

            Pitch licked the juice from Jack’s palm and dragged his teeth down from the palm to the inside of Jack’s wrist.

Jack swallowed at the hot sensation prickling over his hand and spine.

            Pitch smiled. He brought Jack’s hand in between their faces and continued to suck at it. “Do you have any idea what you are about to go through?”

              Jack snapped back to reality and couldn’t stop himself from pulling against Pitch’s restraining hand. Fear holding his tongue captive.

            “Seems like you don’t,” Pitch murmured. He stepped close to Jack forcing him even nearer to the wall.  He binded Jack’s right hand to the wall with sand, intertwined their free hands and then placed his left against Jack’s back. Jack’s voice was a hushed plea, “Don’t.”

                Pitch leaned in and placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. Jack turned his face away from him. Pitch’s left hand shot up to grab the hairs at the base of Jack’s neck to hold him straight, then he captured Jack’s lips with his own as he sucked, bit and licked his mouth.

                   Pitch pulled back to look into Jack’s heavy eyes. They were full of sadness, lust and hopelessness. His golden eyes dropped to Jack’s abused lips, then back to his eyes.  He wanted to erase the sadness and hopelessness, leaving only the lust.

               “Why are you doing this to me?”

“We’ve already gone over this Frost…”

                He released Jack’s head and his hand slid down Jack’s bare back sensuously, then held his hips softly.  

Pitch’s lips parted as Jack arched a little under his fingertips. Pitch used the tips of his fingernails to draw lightly on his sides.

            Jack’s hand pulled against the sand that binded him in place as the strange sensation shot to his groin.

“There must be more! Something I did, or didn’t do? Why would you choose me?”

              Pitch snapped his eyes to Jack’s in frustration. “Do you realize how foolish it is to continually offend the one who holds complete dominion over you? Quit insulting me.” Pitch continued when Jack stood there gaping in confusion. “You seem to believe that you have no value. And as I choose you, you must think me quite stupid.”

“No, it’s just that I'm not-”

            Pitch cut him off brutally, “Stop thinking you are unworthy of attention. I would never waste my time on anything insignificant.” His tone was layered with sarcasm and condescension as he continued. “You are not weak, or undeserving, or spineless, or stupid. I choose you, which means you have great value. It’s aggravating to hear you repeatedly insulting my personal taste, so for your own sake, quit doing it. Do you fucking understand?”

            Jack was speechless for a moment, as warmth flooded his body. _‘ “Not stupid, not spineless,” ’_   His words replayed in his mind. ‘ _“You have great value.” ’_  ‘ _This is too cruel.’_ Jack flexed his arm trying to throw Pitch away from him as he exploded loudly saying, “How can I not feel this way when you treat me like I _have_ no value?”

            Pitch was surprised “I-” _‘Shit.’_  “That’s different,” _‘He’s going to ask me why. I need to think of an answ-’_

“Why?!”

 _‘-Damn it!’_ Pitch struggled silently for a few moments, then after catching Jack’s wide blue eyes, looked away. He knew what he wanted to say, but he couldn’t utter it aloud, his pride wouldn’t let him. He paused. _‘No, I will do whatever makes **I** want to do. I don’t give a damn what he thinks of me.’_ None the less, it was with eyes averted from Jack’s, that he spoke, “It was not my intention to convey a belief that I harbored a negative view of your value. I don’t.”

            Unable to bear it anymore, Jack turned his face away.“Don’t. Don’t say such things to me when you have no intention of changing the way you are.”

            Pitch's eyes snapped up to Jack’s. “Why should I change the way I am?” Pitch could feel his tongue running away from him.  “I am perfectly content the way I am, I don’t need anybody else.”

            “Then why do you do these things to me? Why do you touch me, why do you kiss me, these are tokens of affection Pitch, don’t give them out so carelessly!”

“Carelessly?” He arched an eyebrow.

            “Yes! Carelessly! These words, and actions may have never meant anything to you, but to some they are the earth and sky! To some– To some they are the wind and the snow! Don’t hand them out carelessly.”

             “I never do things carelessly.” Pitch spoke quickly as he found himself staring into Jack’s passionate blue eyes.   

Jack’s eyes grew wide as Pitch's words and possible meaning played again in his mind. "You can not mean the things you say." he spoke in accusation and just as much defense.

 _'What if I did?'_   Pitch was surprised that he had spoken so freely but he was not going to take it back.  He then took note of Jack’s wide eyes and he saw that Jack was shocked into silence. _‘That won’t do…’_ “If my attentions during your stay here have been unsatisfactory, perhaps you would you prefer an exchange? Yourself for one of the other Gua-”

“Never.”

                Pitch paused to look at Frost. The strength in his voice was something he had never heard before. The force and will power behind them was practically tangible. To have that much strength at his control would have been an exhilarating experience.  But to have that strength standing beside him in equality and eagerness was what he truly desired. Pitch paused. _‘Is that really what I want? An equal power standing beside me? An equal partner?’_ Pitch drew small circles with his fingernails on Jack’s hips.

            Jack couldn’t deny the rising tide of lust that was washing over his senses. He hung his head in defeat, too desperate to be ashamed “Pitch, don’t do this to me…Please?”

               Pitch removed his hand from Jack’s back and settled it over the apex of Jack’s pants. He leaned in close to breathe in Jack’s ears,

              “Tell me you don’t want it.”

Pitch squeezed Jack lightly and hissed in pleasure when Jack’s legs shifted uncomfortably at the sensation.

                  Pitch willed his sand away from Jack’s right hand and quickly imprisoned it in his own; intertwining their fingers. Then unwilling to put it off any longer, summoned a portal that they both fell into.

Jack and Pitch landed on the unrumpled bed behind them. Pitch was delighted to see Jack’s renewed struggles, as the reality of what was happening started to settle in on him. Pitch rested his weight against Jack’s body. He turned his head into Jack’s neck and began sucking on it, eliciting quiet moans of distress and pleasure from him.

               He once again imprisoned Jack’s right hand above his head with sand. Pitch lowered his left hand and placed it over Jack’s center.

            Jack’s body tensed, as Pitch repeatedly squeezed and released him, sending his body into a state of hypersensitive waiting.

              Pitch smiled into Jack’s neck as the heart beneath him gained tempo.

Pitch laid his hand on top of Jack’s abdomen, and pressed down, then slid his hand under Jack’s pants and cupped him fully.

            “Pitch-” Jack gnashed his teeth as the sensation and shoved his hips back further into the mattress trying to get away, but it was in vain. Pitch held him securely, twisting and turning with his every move, maintaining the same close distance between them. Watching as each new sensation rolled across Jack’s face.

               “There is no escape,” he whispered seductively into Jack’s neck. Pitch ran his hands over Jack, feeling every inch of his center; his stiffening shaft, the balls that hung heavy below him.

"Stop,"

            Pitch closed his eyes and scraped his teeth up Jack’s neck, he was panting next to him, “Frost,” he whispered once before he captured Jack’s mouth with his own.

            They were both breathing heavily when Pitch finally released his mouth.

              Suddenly Pitch squeezed Jack and watched as Jack raised his back in pleasure. He loomed over Jack’s face. His lips were parted as he breathed out.

               He removed his hand and spoke huskily when Jack whimpered at the loss. “Soon, soon,” He brushed a hand through Jack’s hair before slipping it behind his back. He slid a hand beneath Jack’s pants and tugged them down slightly loving the feel of Jack’s hand clamping down on his own.

              Jack realized that denial was an exercise in futility; Pitch had proven last time how useless such an action was. But was determined to keep quiet, as Pitch nibbled away at his body. He could feel the strange feeling of heat, of welcome heat, heat that made him feel good.

               Pitch imprisoned Jack’s other hand in sand and clutched at Jack’s hips with both of his own. He slid down and kissed Jack’s midline, licking and sucking at the pale flesh, while Jack shuddered and moaned beneath him.

            Pitch placed his pointer and middle fingers underneath the hem of Jack’s pants and pulled down as he kissed the top of Jack’s bared thigh. When Jack’s manhood was revealed, Pitch nipped at his inner thigh watching the pulsating member jump at each new sensation.

            Pitch kissed his way down Jack’s thigh, leaving bruises and bite marks and then pulled his pants off completely.

He kissed his way back up and watched as he got closer and closer to Jack’s center.                                    

             Pitch buried his nose in the junction between Jack’s soft curls and his twitching member. “Say my name Frost.”

Jack bit down on his lips.

            “Say my name, Frost.” Pitch nestled closer to Jack’s center, and turned his head until he was facing it fully. He leaned forward and licked Jack from base to tip. He watched Jack’s whole frame shudder in response.

Jack’s breath shuddered out of him but managed to hold his tongue.

            Pitch reached beneath Jack and cupped his cheeks in his hands, supporting the weight of his hips with his hands. He took Jack fully into his mouth and hummed harshly.

            Jack’s voice ripped out of his throat. “PITCH!”

Pitch sucked harshly on him allowing Jack more freedom, but moving where ever he moved,

            “PITCH! Pitch, my god, s-stop it, Uhh-hhhh… fucking- PITCH!”

Pitch grabbed Jack’s balls and pulled down before he massaged them in his hand.

            Pitch lifted his right hand and released Jack from his mouth.

            Jack was sucking air in through his teeth as wave after wave of pleasure was sent rolling through his body. His heart beat was fast, there was a tingling in his limbs and that heat in his stomach. Through all these sensations Jack’s hate was clear to him, because he only wanted it more.

            Pitch caressed Jack’s mouth with his hand. He placed his two middle fingers on top of Jack’s mouth. “Suck.” he ordered. His other hand reached for Jack’s center and squeezed, “Suck.” He ordered again.

            “No.”Jack’s eyes burned with his will.

Pitch gazed up at Jack's heavy but determined eyes. desire was clouding them clearly, but somehow he managed to be true to himself. In that moment he both hated and admired Jack Frost.

            “You must realize that I'm going to fuck you regardless of your cooperation.”

Jack’s eyes froze as Pitch’s smooth words slammed into his mind and clashed with the sensations of pleasure horribly.

            “If you don’t have any kind of lubrication, you’re going to be in a lot of pain.”

“You’ve already put me in a lot of pain,”

“Not yet I haven’t. Do you want to know what pain feels like?”

            Jack was silent. He had revealed more than he meant to, but thankfully Pitch seemed to have misunderstood him.

Pitch laid his hand against Jack’s face then caressed his lips with his fingertips. “Let me in Frost.”

            “No, not like this.”

 Pitch wanted to force Jack’s compliance but he paused. _‘I'm never going to get his trust this way…’_ “Fine.”

Jack heard his answer but was unwilling to believe him.

            Pitch sucked at the base of Jack’s chin, scraping his teeth along the tender flesh, eliciting shiver after shiver of pleasure. He dragged his mouth over Jack’s chin and kissed the corner of his mouth, then sealed their lips together. He pressed against Jack’s lips harshly and pressed his hips into Jack’s body. The moan of need almost made him lose control. But he held onto the kiss, fighting for total dominance.

            Pitch leaned back and placed his hand on Jack’s back; he released the bindings on Jack’s wrist and suddenly lifted him and flipped him over onto his back.

            Pitch attacked the back of Jack’s neck nipping away at his shoulder blades while he slid his hands down Jack’s arms. He intertwines their fingers and held his arms down while he pressed his hips into Jack brushing against his back side.

            Jack gripped the sheets in his hands, his mind reeling with the copious amounts of pleasure as his heart kept increasing its tempo.

            Pitch kissed the skin between Jack’s shoulder blades; he slid down lower leaving a wet trail on Jack’s quivering back. Pitch’s hands released Jack’s. He lowered them to his waist and cupped Jack’s hips as Pitch kissed the top of Jack’s waist.

            Jack pressed himself into the sheets, a futile attempt at escape. “Pitch,” he whispered breathily begging for mercy or speed. Perhaps begging for both.

            Pitch reached up and put his fingers against Jack’s throat as he dragged his tongue lower to slide in between Jack’s twin cheeks.

            Pitch placed his fingertips of his middle and pointer finger at the edge of Jack’s mouth, then brushed them across his lips.

Jack turned his head to avoid the tingling sensation.

            Pitch latched on to Jack’s right cheek and sucked at it, kneading the soft flesh with his teeth and tongue while lightly touching his lips.

            Jack felt his whole frame shake at the sensation of touch on his lips. No one had ever touched him there before. No one had ever touched him like this _. ‘It’s too cruel,’_

            Pitch's fingers sought out Jack’s lips again he brushed his fingertips across his lips once more, but this time reached a little higher and latched onto his chin. His fingertips brushed across Jack’s sensitive lips again and again.

            Jack curled his lips inward trying to avoid the sensation, but he couldn’t get in enough air from his nose. He had to breathe through his mouth.

Pitch suddenly stopped sucking at Jack’s cheek.

            Jack gasped and let his head collapse against the pillows as he shuddered; relief swept through him as the intense feelings finally ceased to grow.

            Pitch grinned in satisfaction, as he once more lowered his mouth to Jack’s backside. He kissed the top of the line that separated the two cheeks and dragged his tongue down an inch.  Then pressed into the crevice with his tongue, pushing up and down as he pressed  his chest into Jack’s backside, forcing his quivering penis into the sheets.

"No-" Jack squeezed his eyes closed fighting for the last strands of his reason.

            Pitch’s right hand held onto Jack’s chin; his fingertips brushed across Jack’s lips as he moved his tongue up and down, moving them in sync, then he increased the tempo and the force.  “Let me in,” he breathed out in his deep voice.

            He removed his fingertips from Jack’s lips and could soon heard Jack licking and biting his lips trying to force the strange sensations to diminish.

Pitch brushed his fingers against Jack’s tongue.

            Jack pulled back after a split second of indecision, but Pitch brushed his now wet fingertips across his lips once more. His touches lost weight as they turned feather light, teasing him, luring his primal side forward.

            Pitch worked his tongue a little slower setting a steady tempo matching it with his fingertips that were outlining Jack’s lips.

Suddenly Pitch lowered his tongue half an inch down, causing Jack to gasp at the heightened sensation. Pitch skimmed his fingertips just barely over the inside of Jack’s lips, loving the gasp that came with it. He felt Jack’s mouth close but no teeth could reach him. Pitch moved his fingers against Jack’s teeth feeling the way his lips shifted around his fingertips.

            Pitch dropped his tongue another half inch, “Let me in,” his voice was low and full of desire. Desire for his victory over Jack, desire for his climax, desire for Jack himself.

It was this same blatant desire that hurled Jack over the edge. 

Pitch scraped his teeth along either side of Jack’s cheek and straddled the crevice with his mouth sucking on both sides simultaneously.

            His fingertips could feel the pressure rapidly decreasing in Jack’s lips; he increased his tempo slightly, he flicked his tongue up and down the crevice as Jack surrendered more and more of himself to the sensations of his body.

            Pitch's fingertips pushed gently against Jack’s mouth and smoothly slid in and out, not giving him any chance to consider what happened. He released Jack’s chin and pushed harder with his tongue as he slid his fingertips in once more. “You’ve got to close your mouth,” he whispered as he moved his tongue down another half inch, moving closer to the hole in his backside.

            Jack heard Pitch's voice as if in a dream, his head swamped with sensation, he sealed his mouth over Pitch's fingers.

            Pitch increased his tempo with his tongue while moving his fingers up and down Jack’s tongue. Suddenly Pitch probed deep into the crevice, pushing harshly.

            Jack felt a bolt of pleasure shoot up his backside and tried to suck in a breath around Pitch's fingers,

“Suck on them,” Pitch managed to force out.

Jack pulled on Pitch's fingers

            Pitch used one hand to spread Jack open more and blew softly against Jack’s quivering backside, before leaving a cooling trail with his tongue.

             Jacks whimper of need was low and long as he gasped around the fingers in his mouth,

Pitch’s voice was low heavy and dark. “Frost,” He breathed as he traced Jack’s lips with his wet fingertips.

            Jack’s lips tingled uncomfortably as Pitch's fingers trailed across them, he turned and bit down on his lip trying to ease the discomfort.

Pitch's fingertips followed them teasing them with their light touches.

Jack parted his lips to get away from the sensation and Pitch slipped his fingers inside once more.

            Jack felt the fingers inside holding his tongue down. The shudder he felt from Pitch sent an answering shudder through him.

            His tongue was released but Pitch’s fingers remained where they were, they fought Jack’s tongue for dominance.

“Frost…”

            Jack felt his eyes close as a wave of pleasure was sent rolling through his body, he couldn’t help the moan of ecstasy that slipped between Pitch's fingers. He sealed his mouth over Pitch's fingers to remoisten his mouth.

Jack felt the way Pitch's other hand clamped down on his leg.

            When Jack sucked on those digits Pitch buried his face in Jack’s side and scraped his teeth along his ribs.

Jack gasped aloud,

“No, no, suck …”

            He resealed over Pitch's fingers and sucked on them harshly, loving the way Pitch responded by scraping his teeth against his skin more forcibly.

             Pitch brought his face back to the center of Jack’s back. He scraped his teeth along the top of Jack’s left cheek.

            Jack raised his hips higher, seeking the pinpointed sensation, and Pitch wrapped a hand around Jack’s member getting a high from the way it was already twitching in his hand. He smeared the precum over his hand.

            He removed his hand from Jack’s mouth and took off his pants, he settled above him, and placed a finger by Jack’s entrance. Pitch held Jack’s hips down and spread his cheeks. He leaned down over Jack and spoke softer than he had ever intended. “This is going to hurt a little, but you’ll get used to it.”

            He slid one long finger inside, imagining how sweet it would be to have this heat enclose him as he pounded into him.  He added another finger, and moved them in a circular pattern, each one successively but minutely larger than the last.

            Pitch’s other hand grasped Jack’s flagging member and stroked it back to life. Pitch squeezed Jack each time he widened him. He grazed his teeth across Jack’s back side. “Frost,” he breathed in his intoxicating scent of sex, sweat, and pleasure and couldn’t deny that he wanted more. The minute traces of fear that lingered on the edges of his senses was forgotten entirely.

            Jack was a tightly coiled bundle of nerves. Every touch was like electricity, he had become so acutely aware of each gentle brush of Pitch's fingertips, of his tongue, of his voice as it fell softly into the shell of his ear. The sound of Pitch calling his name even though it was only filled with the emotionless chords of lust, beat at his willpower with powerful blows.                                   

            Pitch sat up and commanded his sand. The sound of ripping fabric tore at the ambiance, but neither toke note of it. Pitch kneeled behind him with his bare legs and settled himself over Jack’s entrance; he reached around front and smeared Jack’s precum onto his hands, then rubbed the copious amounts along his hard length. 

            He pressed gently into Jack, allowing only the tip to rest at the entrance, exerting over himself a vicious control of will power.

Jack sucked in a pained breath, and tensed.

            “You have to relax, it’s going to feel good, but you have to relax.”

Jack’s hands clenched the sheets tightly as pain colored the edges of his pleasure induced body.

            Pitch pushed in slightly, watching as his head was swallowed.

“Ahh-Ah haa” Jack clenched his body in pain.

Pitch saw how his hands spasmed then clenched onto the yielding sheets.

            Pitch had to stop himself from pounding into him as Jack’s walls clamped around him squeezing him tightly. He breathed heavily through his nose, and spoke through clenched teeth.

            “This is going to hurt more if you don’t relax.”

Jack opened his eyes slightly “How can I relax?! I feel like…” he was at a loss for words,

            “I'm going to dedicate myself to making you feel very good, but you have to relax,” He pulled on Jack’s weeping shaft eliciting a gasp of pleasure from him  “I'm going to take care of this.”

 “I can’t stand it!”

            “Try.”Pitch didn’t know how else to answer, but caressed Jack’s hips soothingly and began thrusting in to him slowly, gently, and little by little, he was swallowed by Jack’s body.

            “Haaa,” Jack breathed heavily at each little thrust. “Haaa,” He had never felt so stretched in his life, so full, so afraid to move. To move was to feel, and he didn’t know if he could feel anymore without losing himself entirely.  

            Pitch settled his hands against Jack’s waist, sweat beading on his brow and nudged forward once more.

Jack gasped at the pain and pleasure.

            Pitch rocked forward again.  And again.

“Ohhh…!!”  his voice caught again and again as Pitch moved into him.

            Pitch rocked harder listening to the slight slapping sound as their thighs connected.

Jack’s hands clenched down on the sheets. “Pitch, I can’t…”

            Pitch placed his hand on Jack’s chest and pushed upward. “Brace yourself with your hands. Put them on the headboard.”

                  Jack rose shakily from the sheets and did as he was told.

The corner of Pitch's mouth turned up slightly as he smashed into Jack.

            Jack’s hands slipped past the headboard and he had to brace himself against the solid rock wall instead.

Pitch smiled with satisfaction as he pounded into his victim. Their uneven breaths filled the room.

            Pitch grabbed Jack’s waist with both hands and pulled him back as he thrust forward, searching for the place that would make Jack scream his name out loud, would make him completely lose himself.

            Pitch closed his eyes concentrating all his power on the feeling of being connected with another person so intimately. He knew he would be reflecting on how much he had enjoyed it. But for now, in this moment, he decided to do whatever made him happy, and he reveled in the sensation.

            Pitch leaned back letting the sensation of pleasure sprint up his spine. He was panting just as harshly with Jack as they tried to breathe through the thick sensations. “Say my name,” Pitch breathed.

            Jack lost his breath at such sensual words were whispered into the darkness.          

Pitch wrapped a hand around Jack’s manhood and pumped his hands in time with his thrusts.

            The pleasure was building to an unbearable height, “Oh. My g–!”  He begged.

“Say my name…” he stabbed his hips upward.

Jack’s voice tinged with hysteria, broke loose. “Pitch!”

“Yes.” he hissed. “Say it again. Scream it out loud.”

            “Ahh haaa, Pitch, aaahhh. Pitch-”

Pitch released Jack’s member and put his hands back onto Jack’s hips. He grabbed one of Jack’s hands and guided it down to his pale manhood.“Touch yourself,”

            Jack let Pitch guide his hand below him and felt his tight rigidness. Pitch’s voice spread over him like an intoxicating wine, influencing him from the shadows, calling forth his very own desires that he himself didn’t know he had within him.

             “Pump yourself in time with me. I want you to feel yourself cum underneath me.” Pitch breathed with his eyes closed.

            Pitch thrust forward and Jack squeezed and pulled on himself. His arms lost their strength as pleasure blinded him from all other aspects. He collapsed back to the bed.

            Pitch flipped Jack over and held his legs up in the air as he continued to pound into him.

Their breath came in short harsh gasps.

            Jack grabbed the sheets and twisted them in his hands, no longer fighting Pitch but fighting the impatience for his release.

            Pitch gripped Jack’s legs harshly as the pleasure rose within him.

Jack’s hands clenched on the sheets  as his body arched above the bed. The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

            Pitch noticed all these things with half of his mind as he pounded back into Jack, addicted to the sensation of heat surrounding him.

            Jack was breathing hard as the sensations stole over his skin and dulled his mind. His eyes were clenched as the pleasure danced over his body.

            Pitch lifted Jack’s leg higher and went at it. 

Jack’s eyes snapped open “Pitch!”

            Pitch smiled, ‘ _And there it is…’_

 “Mine,” he murmured as Jack pulled on the sheets relentlessly. ‘ _Mine, you belong to me. Can’t ever leave.’_   “Mine” Pitch breathed as he slammed into Jack’s thighs again and again.

            Jack pressed back against him silently demanding the pleasure be harder, faster, deeper, stronger anything to take him over the horizon that approached at a torturously slow pace.

Pitch slammed into Jack with all the force he dared to use. Pitch saw Jack’s body tense with his climax, and he quickened his strokes to match him,

            The sound of their release echoed throughout the room and into the caverns beyond.

             Jack collapsed on the bed, shuddering as Pitch raised himself on his toes pushing into Jack to ride the last waves of pleasure demanding from his worn out thighs just one more push than the last. When he pulled out, his seed was spilled on the twisted sheets beneath them.

            Jack felt like his limbs would never move again. He was tingling all over, as post climatic shock waves rolled through his body. He couldn’t speak, only shudder as the pleasure rippled outward from his center.

            Pitch leaned over him; his arms on either side of Jack’s face, forcing his eyes wide open he greedily took in every nuance of Jack’s expression, the flushed skin, the harsh breathing, his bleeding lips where he had bitten so hard he cut through the skin, the sweat that adorned his body like morning dew. 

            His arms began to shake but he held himself up determined to see more of him. Pitch watched his Adams apple bob up and down as he gulped down breaths of air. _‘Beautiful,’_ Finally he couldn’t hold his weight up anymore and he collapsed besides Jack in exhaustion, trying to settle his own shaky breath.

            When he felt Pitch lay beside him, Jack didn’t know how to react, he gulped down a few more breaths of oxygen as he tried to reorient himself through the miles of shame that had just begun to unfold around him. He wanted to leave, get away from the man who had destroyed his every defense so exactly. He wanted to get away from everything that was Pitch Black.  Immediately. At once. He scooted back from him, more than willing to sleep on the floor. He curled up, drawing his arms close to hide his naked body.

            Pitch felt Jack withdrawing from him, physically and emotionally. _‘Oh no you don’t,’_ He reached out a hand and curled Jack into his chest.

Jack was instantly uncomfortable. He struggled against Pitch’s grasp.

            “Quit moving Frost.” He wrapped one long leg in between Jack’s and interlocked their bodies together.

            Jack felt his heart beat a little quicker. He shifted slightly as a strange kind of weariness seemed to weigh him down. His eyes opened wide with realization but when he spoke it was ominously quiet. “Let go.”

            Pitch was rather surprised that he actually thought that he would do such a thing. 

“No.”

            Jack’s heart was suddenly gaining tempo again. His stomach felt like it had hot tea poured in it. His vision seemed to narrow into a dark tunnel, steadily shrinking on an unfocused dot of white rumpled sheets. Panic was slowly sinking its claws into him. He swallowed once trying desperately to hold onto himself as he felt his control begin to slip away. “Pitch. Let go of me.”

            The taller man propped himself up on one elbow, alerted by Jack’s tone that something was up.

            Jack felt his hand start to twitch. He slammed his eyes closed as he tried to maintain control of himself. _‘No, no, no, no, no,’_ He balled his hands into fists and curled them in to his chest.  “Let go,” He grabbed onto the sheets pulling himself away from Pitch.

But Pitch curled his arms tighter around Jack, pulling him closer to his chest.  

            Jack fought back trying to pry Pitch’s hand’s from his chest as he kicked at the sheets that covered his legs. “Let go, let go, LET GO!” He struggled with all his might.

Pitch almost lost his grip twice before he managed to pin Jack’s hands down by throwing a leg over him and using his superior weight.  “What’s wrong with you?”

            Jack’s strength seemed to increase and Pitch had to clamp his legs close together to prevent Frost from bucking him off.

            Suddenly Jack ripped his hand away from Pitch’s grasp and punched the nightmare king in the mouth.

Pitch was knocked clear from the bed and fell to the floor.

            Jack leaped off the bed. He ran towards the wall that was the furthest from Pitch blindly trying to put more distance between them. He crashed into the wall, while holding his arms as they shook violently. ‘ _Calm down, calm down!’_ He clenched his teeth to stop them from chattering.

            He felt something soft underneath his toes and risked a glance away from the stunned Bogeyman. A pile of familiar brown seemed to catch hold of his frenzied mind and give him a measure of sedation. He snatched at the only sedative he had and held them close to his distressed body.

            Pitch rose from the other side of the bed like the Bogeyman of old, his golden eyes alive with surprise, and curiosity. ‘ _Where does this power come from? In this situation, his powers should have been diminishing. Yet it shoots upward like a released spring._ ’ He resisted the urge to rub his aching jaw. _'There's definitely power there._ '

Jack stood as far away as possible from him. He managed to wrest some control over his hyperactive breathing. “Let me out.”

            Pitch looked at him with a strange sort of disbelieving caution. “No.”

            Jack swallowed once, his heart beating wildly in his chest. His eyes skipped haphazardly around the darkened room, desperate for any kind of exit to appear. He gasped aloud and struggled to get his thoughts across. “Pitch, yo-” he paused to catch his breath, “…you must, let me out.” Jack felt his breath come in shorter gulps of air, his heart beat a sickeningly fast tempo in his ears diminishing all other sounds.

            Pitch quickly strode around the bed towards Jack. He stopped when he felt Jack’s insanely elevated fear push even higher. The fear he felt from him was confusing. It was overwhelming terror, it was practically tangible, and Pitch couldn’t understand why Jack was feeling it. _‘Why after all this time was the fear just now settling in?’_ Pitch watched for a moment longer then realized that Frost was having trouble breathing.

            Jack’s breaths were sucked in with bigger gulps of air that seemed to provide less and less oxygen.

He clutched at his chest with both hands, his shoulder leaned up against the wall for stability.

            “Calm down,” Pitch didn’t know if he should go to him or stay away.

Jack fell to his knees as the white circle seemed to shrink even more. “Le me-ou,”

            “Breathe,” Pitch found himself taking a step forward, then another and suddenly he was grasping Jack’s shoulders as he kneeled on the floor before him, “Breathe!”  He commanded wildly.

            Jack seemed to suffer through a small seizure as he continued to gasp.

            Pitch turned Jack towards himself, “Breathe! Damn it!” He saw that Jack’s eyes were squeezed shut in fierce concentration. He could hear his teeth grinding together. His body seemed tensed in on itself, like a rubber band wrapped too tightly, about to snap. Pitch listened to his strained breaths and didn’t know what to do.

            Just like food, the Guardian’s and himself had no real need to breathe, Pitch believed that because breathing was such a paramount function in their human lives, the need to continue it just migrated over when they were changed. He knew this, and it caused him to feel a sort of helpless rage at his inability to ease Jack’s phantom suffocation.

            Jack gasped again as if in agony.

Pitch gritted his teeth in frustration.“Breathe Frost! –Fro-Jack!”

            Jack seemed to curl up on himself even further, ‘ _It’s like he’s trying to hide from something…_ ’ Pitch wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close to his body squeezing him tightly. “It’s alright. Just calm down and breathe.” He could feel Jack twist a little inside his embrace,

            He slackened his hold when he thought he heard mumbled words. “What is it?” He leaned down towards his face to hear better.

            “Don- touch…”  he turned his head even the smell of Pitch right now was too much to bear. He pushed his feet against the floor trying to distance himself from Pitch, but his back pressed up against the wall after managing only a few inches of separation. _‘It’s not enough! I’m still too close!’_

            Pitch felt like all his concern has been slapped back into his face. “I am trying to help you!” He snarled angrily and tightened his hold on Frost’s shoulders. Suddenly his hands seared white hot as millions of tiny spears of ice seemed to shoot into his hands. He fell back in pain, his eyes darkened as he came towards Jack again.

            Jack who had finally managed to grab hold of his senses lunged to the side, away from Pitch, grabbing onto the end table for support. He gripped the edges and used it to haul himself up of the floor. He had seen the surprise and pain flash across Pitch’s face. And he realized that he was losing control. Again. _‘Idistance, distance until I have control.’_ He picked up the jug that was on top and held it between his trembling hands.

“-stay, away-,” he said in a wavering and disjointed voice.

            Pitch paused then came towards him.

Jack swung his makeshift weapon clumsily towards him, but Pitch easily ducked and with arms outstretched, lunged at him.

            “Noooo!!” Jack yelled as he felt himself being pulled again, imprisoned, locked away once more.

            Pitch felt the same pain once more but he was ready. He pulled up a thick layer of sand and coated his hands with it. The sharp pain was diminished but he could still feel it, trying to force its way through the heavy coating of sand. Some made it. He griped Jack’s wrists tightly, his knees held him down, as Jack struggled fiercely.

            Jack felt as if he was clingingly to his sanity by a worn thread, he strained his muscles as he fought against Pitch's superior strength. He could feel his limbs begin shaking, “I need…” his breath seemed to be snatched from him. Pitch managed to force Jack’s elbows back to the floor.

            “No-o-” Jack begged feeling his stamina giving out. ‘ _No, please not again–!’_ he desperately reached for his tenuous hold on his senses.

            Pitch could feel Jack’s fighting power diminishing. He was silent as Jack’s struggles grew weaker. ‘ _Strange , as his shaking increased.’_

            “LET, ME, OUT!!” Jack suddenly surged forward and Pitch was forced backwards from force as much as surprise. He commanded the sand to hold him steady as he was propelled to his feet. He used his new height and the harsh angle of his arms to keep Frost pinned to the ground on bended knee, while maintaining his grip on Jack’s wrists.

            Jacks vision narrowed further. The only thing he could hear was his heartbeat, the only thing he could feel was the fear clogging his throat, filling his ears, stifling his thoughts. He became still as the recognizable power washed through him. _‘No. no I won’t do that ever again, I won’t ever depend on that again!’_ Jackl ocked his gaze on the white sheets of the bed, focusing only on that color.

            Pitch narrowed his concentration on Frost who had gone ominously still. “Jack?”

            Jack focused on the bright white sheet, beating back the darkness that was closing in on him. _‘White as snow, white as snow.’_ The world was silent around him as the blackness beat at his senses; trying to find a way in. He imagined each of his hand’s holding a fresh ball of snow. He tried to feel the heaviness they would hold, the strength they would provide him.

“Jack?”

             Slowly he felt the darkness retract slightly, then as it continued to retreat, he could suddenly hear again as if the retreating blackness was pulling out the plugs in his ears.

            Pitch lowered the harsh angle of Frost’s arms and looked at him.  The fear was retracting, he could tell, but something told him that it was not over yet.

            Jack could suddenly hear his breath whooshing in and out of his mouth. He latched onto that focusing his mind to the task of recapturing his breath.

            Pitch could see the intense concentration that settled around Jack’s grim mouth. His eyes were still shaded by his hair. The fear that had nearly clogged his own senses, was rapidly being diminished by sheer force of will. Pitch had no idea what Jack was concentrating on, but whatever it was had given him power to control himself.  “Jack?”

            Jack gasped as his concentration was snapped. The memory of his touch, the sensations, the heat, burned through Jack’s mind.  He was so ashamed of his reactions, ashamed of the intensity of his desire for that touch. He was afraid of what he might become, might already be. He turned his eyes to Pitch with anger. “Let go of me!”

Pitch instantly tightened his hold as he felt another wave of surprise overtake him.

Jack could feel his heart beat increasing again, but instead of fighting himself he fought Pitch, the initiation of a power he hated. “Let go! Let go of me!!”

“No”

            Jack could feel something like a cruel hand take hold of his heart; he could see the first dregs of blackness begin to leak back into his vision once more. ‘ _Never again I said, Never again! I don’t care if it is against Pitch, I don’t care if it was against evil incarnate, I will not become that ever again!!’_ He tried to refocus his mind on what he needed to do, but  couldn’t stop himself from remembering the cold indifference he felt back in that alley.The blackness gobbled up his vision in quick greedy bites, eager for control. Pitch's tight grip on his wrists was a constant reminder of what happened, the sensations he had felt, and could feel again. The desire to feel so much again was strong, it warred equally with the desire to escape from Pitch’s confining clutches. Both served to distract him from pushing back the blackness.

            Jack could feel himself losing this battle, desperation forced him to speak, “PITCH, please! I have to get out of here!”

Pitch held him down while he haphazardly rushed to regroup his thoughts that had been so effectively scattered by this strange turn of events.

            “Please let me out! Just one hour, just one minute! I just need some space!! We can go where ever you want to, you can send me through hell after, I don’t care anymore!” His hearing grew fuzzy as the blackness moved a little closer.  “I just need some distance! Please, please…” he paused as he choked on his words, “Let me OUT!” His pleas diminished into shaking silence as the darkness suddenly seemed to slow down. His attention was snagged by the unexpected occurrence. He refocused on the same circle of white again, and it retreated back a few reluctant steps.  

            Pitch was taken aback by the intensity of his pleas. “Why do you want to leave so suddenly? You were hardly this energetic when you first arrived. Why is now any different?”

            Jack tried to focus on beating the darkness back but knew if he ignored Pitch, the consequences would definitely send him over that sickening edge. He opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say to convince Pitch to wait. His attention was snagged by the darkness as it retreated back even further. He knew now that to defeat it he needed to concentrate.

“You better have a good fucking reason for ignoring me.”

            “Please!” His attention was divided in half trying to maintain himself while forcing the blackness from his vision. He just needed to placate Pitch a little longer…”Pitch please…a moment,” A few silent moments pass and he could feel himself settling down, the claws had retracted almost entirely and he was able to call his mind mostly his own. Not that his mind was the best place to be at the moment.

Pitch waited with annoyance and curiosity warring for dominance. _'What is this grip of fear that I can't divine? From where was that strength derived?  Does he want to leave because he can't control it?  His desire to leave has never been this strong before. Why is it increasing now?'_  

         Jack's eyes were finally clear of the blackness. _'I did it!'_ His breath wheezed out of him in relief as his shoulders sagged. With the blackness finally pushed back the memories of his experience were able to flow back in.

            Pitch could see the calm settle over Jack’s frame and pressed his question forward. “Why is your desire to leave suddenly so intense?”

            Jack felt his heart beat quicken for a moment. The last thing he wanted to do was think about what almost happened. He needed to get it off his mind immediately. In anxious haste he turned to the only other things that he couldn’t get out of his head. Pitch's invasive touch. His soft voice as he whispered softly into his ear. The heat that shot up his spine at each pulse of his heartbeat. The desire, the internal fire that rushed through his veins as Pitch touched him. _‘I don’t want it, I can’t!’_ He had to choke back a scream of anger. _‘ It’s too cruel,’_

            Pitch could see him trying to close him out. “Tell me this instant or we are going to go another round right now!”

            Jack didn’t respond but the fear Pitch felt was answer enough. “Frost, tell me why you want to leave!”

            His blue eyes stabbed into Pitch's unyielding gold. “I don’t want to stay!”

Pitch rolled his eyes. “I know that, why-”

            “I don’t want to stay! I can’t! What other reason do I need?! Just let me go, haven’t you had enough?! Is there no satisfying you? Why can’t you understand that I don’t want to stay with you?!"

            “I'm never going to let you go.”

             Jack held his golden gaze for a brief moment then his body slumped back to the floor even as his wrists were trembling in Pitch’s confining hands. Jack looked away as the pain went rolling down his cheeks. “I don’t want to stay. Why can’t you understand that I don’t want to stay?”

            “I’ve alre-”

“Pitch!”

            “Tell me why you want out so urgently.”

Jack looked down, “I don’t want to stay...”

            Pitch had to snatch the cruel words from his tongue before he lashed out at him. “You’ve already mentioned that, and my patience is beginning to run thin.” He paused, “You must know I can feel your fear.”

            Jack’s body seemed to suffer a tremor and he swallowed harshly.

“But I can’t quite pinpoint exactly what it is.” Which annoyed him to no end. “So you will tell me. What is it?”

            Jack could feel his words building up from his chest, longing to be free, hoping that if he revealed his his reasons, Pitch would be satisfied and let him leave. _‘It’s not like I could sink much lower._ ’ He turned his head away and swallowed thickly. “Let go of me,”

“Why should I?”

“Pitch, damn it, I-! I'm going to tell you! So just, just _let go.”_

            Pitch released his hands and waited impatiently.

            Jack bowed his head, and lowered his hands back into his lap and held them, gently holding the abused skin. After a moment he began, his voice a thin thread in the semidarkness, “When you, when you touch… me-”

            Pitch froze with his eyes trained on Frost as he waited with suddenly bated breath.

            Jack felt his voice dying even as he wanted to speak. A lump formed in his throat, his voice shook and he couldn’t get a straight sentence out without a struggle. “When you………… It’s…….”

He drew in a fresh breath and tried again, “I feel….…I-”

He gulped wretchedly. “I just can’t stay with you like this!”

            “Like what?!”

Jack looked at him in disbelief. He glanced around once then back to Pitch. “…Look at me.”

            Pitch stared down at him. He was on the floor naked before him, lean body trembling, slumped to the ground, defeated and defenseless.

Jack swallowed once under his critical gaze.

            “I don’t-”

“Look at yourself!” He practically yelled in his face.

            Pitch took stock of his position, he was leaning over a captive Jack Frost, his hand marks were clearly shown all over his body, he had just fucked him.  Pitch became uncomfortable. He didn’t know why, but his mind was divided. He returned his gaze to Jack’s and instinctively searched for the fear, something he understood.

            Jack was afraid of him. But right now he was more afraid of himself.

Pitch was so confused he spoke out loud “What?”

            Jack could see the recognition begin to form on his face and as he did, Pitch was able to see more of Jack’s fears.

            Jack was afraid he wanted to stay. ‘ _He had been telling more than just me that he didn’t want to stay.’_ Pitch felt utterly defeated. How was he supposed to imprison willingness? _'Wait a minute! Isn't this the moment I've been waiting for? He wants to stay, isn't this exactly what I had been trying to achieve? I can end the Guardians for once and for all.'_ But something held him back. an image of jacks eyes flashing with anger passed behind his eyes. _'I need to understand why now, what I did to make him change his mind.' I need to know how deep his attatchment has deteriorated, can I end them indiscriminintly?  I just done know!'_

He was unsure of his next course of action. what he should do, or say, he needed concrete facts so he turned to the only thing he had had for a long, long time.            

“What are you afraid of?”

“I don’t want to stay with you.”

            “You might.”

             Refusing to be ashamed, Jack held Pitch’s gaze as the fought back the pain that had been viciously inflicted, the tears were held back by pure willpower; but Pitch saw them anyway.

To have his one source of shame thrown in his face was hard to withstand but Jack held his voice steady. “Let me out.”

            “No.” He said as he rose above him. Jack didn’t move as Pitch walked away from him. The Bogeyman stopped and looked down at the rumpled bed sheets.  He reached down and took the top cover off the bed and threw it to Jack.

            He caught the sheet and looked up at Pitch confused.

But Pitch was already walking around the bed, he bent down to grab his torn pants.

            Jack wrapped the sheet around him and leaned against the wall. His eyes were never on Pitch himself, but he was always in the periphery of his vision. Always aware of where he was in conjunction to Pitch.

            Pitch buttoned his pants back on and walked back towards Jack. He sat on the side of the bed closest to Jack and looked at him for a moment.

            Jack sat against the wall and wrapped the sheet more comfortably around himself.  He was trying to form reasonable arguments to convince Pitch to release him. But nothing came to mind.

            He looked away from Jack.“Why is it that you might want to stay?”

Jack flinched inward, drawing the sheet closer. “…I don’t know.”

            “Yes you do, and I will not be denied the satisfaction of an answer.”

Jack gritted his teeth. _‘Your satisfaction.’_

            Pitch felt the fear being slowly replaced by something else.

“Frost,” he threatened.

Jack remained silent.

            Pitch wanted to throttle him, to make him scream his name. But he did neither. “Tell me why or I'll have to think of something truly awful to punish you.”

Jack scoffed, “What more could you possibly do?”

            Pitch was taken aback by the absolute certainty in his voice. ”Oh Frost,” He would'nt even attempt to stifle the smile that grew on his face. “ So much more...Now tell me, why might you want to stay?

            Jack turned his head to the side to glare at him from the corner of his eye.“Do you really not know? Can **_you_** not conceive the encompassing spectrum of… of possibility?”  

            Pitch was curious to know why Jack had put so much stress on the “you” in his sentence but was sure he would explain himself. He covered his curiosity with a blank stare, allowing Jack to interpret it however he wanted.

            Jack took in Pitch's blank stare and stared into his eyes. “You know I have nothing from my past life. Nothing to look back on, no family, no friends, no connections to anybody or anything. I wouldn’t even mind having an enemy as opposed to nothing. But instead I have only a phantom family that I have stolen from old odd ends. You know it, yet you still….”

            He looked away and focused his attention on a smooth bit of wall. “When you touch me, like that…” Jack pulled the sheet closer to his body burying himself in its white depths wishing that it was cold comforting snow instead. He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “It’s a type of strong connection that I have… always– always longed for.” He glanced once right into the Bogeyman’s eyes. “You must know what I'm talking about.”

            Pitch was taken aback by his abrupt and serious gaze. He sat still as stone, leaning against the foot board the picture of uneasiness. He was utterly speechless. His heart rate was picking up and for once in a great while, it wasn’t in pleasure, but in disquiet. _‘This…’_ He didn’t even know what to call him anymore.

            Jack stood up on his shaky legs, unwilling to have this conversation while he was huddled on the ground.“I’ve never sought out any kind of strong relationship before, and with more than good enough reasons...” He paused only an instant then continued “When I found out my memories were stored and just waiting for me, the pain and balm were both incredibly potent.”

            Jack laughed humorlessly as he spun in a circle recalling the blinding bliss he had felt upon their discovery, “At last! At last! Here was the proof that I did have a life before. Here were the answers to all my questions, I could finally know who I was before I became what I am. I can be complete, I can live my life without feeling so disconnected…. and then YOU!” Pitch came out of his mini coma and focused on Jack. “You took them, and I was left with nothing. **Again**.”

            Jack wrapped the sheet around him securely as he began to pace. “Then I was compelled to go after them, and ended up betraying the only people who could actually see me, the only family I have EVER known, the **only ones** who have **ever** cared for me and my well being. And then you kidnap me and…” he paused and focused his attention on the ground, anywhere but Pitch's still figure.

            Pitch raised a brow indifferently.  “Yes? I what?”

“And you….”

            Pitch rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so modest, people do it all the time.”

“I know that! That’s not the problem! It’s…”

“Yes?”

            Jack went on the defensive. “Why the hell do you want to know anyway?”

 _‘Because you intrigue me.’_  “Because I want to know all about my new toy.”

            Jack was silent.

“Because I have never felt such an abrupt switch in the concentrations of anxiety, and I wish to know the cause. So if it is not the physicality of our relationship, what is it?”

            Jack scowled, _‘Relationship,’_ he wanted to rip the word out of Pitch’s mind. He turned towards Pitch to look him in the eye, refusing to be ashamed. “The connection.”

Pitch's countenance was very still as Jack continued.

            “It’s the ability to know someone, to be close to them in such an intimate and …powerful way.  It’s important because it’s something I’ve never had before, and every single fiber in my being is screaming at me to hold onto it with all the strength I can muster.  But I WON’T. I **CAN’T**! Because it’s _YOU!_   But I _still_ …” he shook his head in frustration, “And knowing all this I _STILL_ -“ he stopped as the lump in his throat became almost too big to speak around. “I mean of all people, why, _WHY_ did you have to be the first ?! I would have been fine if it was anyone but you!”

            Pitch's first reaction was anger, covered in sarcasm. “What? I'm not good enough for you?”

“That’s not it and you know it! Don’t you dare make a mockery of my pain!”

Pitch was taken aback by the fierceness in his voice. The division in his mind was growing in his chest and it hurt. He knew exactly what Frost was talking about.

            Throughout all his years of providing nightmares, his fall from power, fighting the Guardian’s, and rebuilding his supremacy, he had something to hold him to his purpose, the memory of his daughter. To this day his wife, his mother and father, his family, his friends, all the things he knew he once had, were gone from him, he couldn’t recall their faces, their voices, the slightest part of their character, everything about them was a blank; Except the knowledge that they once existed. The only thing from his past that he could recall at all was his daughter. The way she looked, the sound of her laugh, the flowers she loved to pick….

            When he ruled in the dark ages, he was never at a loss for believers, never more powerful never more feared, but he was nonetheless, alone.

             Then the Guardian’s came and he was removed from the minds of children like a leaf from a tree, he fell down lower and lower, losing his believers and his power. Soon all that was left was the a handful of children who believed in him and the Guardian’s themselves. The believers were children and hardly able to hold a decent conversation. The Guardian’s viewed him as the enemy and would sooner speak peaceably with him than invite a second round of the Bubonic plague.

             What would it have been like to have nothing at all? To wake up one day and know nothing beyond the existence of your own body and mind? Not knowing why you were here, what you were supposed to do, how could anyone move forward without a single thing to guide them? He shuddered to think what he would have become if he didn’t have the memory of his daughter to steady him. _‘What was it like for Frost to have no one? No single point to anchor his life from?... And then to have an **enemy** provide the only tie to another person?’ _ In his chest, a small dart of something uncomfortably close to guilt buried itself inside his heart.

            He knew the pain that Jack was speaking of. It was solitude. The same pain he had endured, The same pain Jack had accused him correctly of knowing.

            Pitch was tense. Knowing that he, himself had dealt out that same horrible type of ache so readily, gave him a real sense of wrongness.

             As the silence between them stretched out, Jack sat back on the floor and leaned up against the wall. He wadded up the excess of the sheet and placed it between his head and the hard stony surface. His eyes were open, unable to close them exhausted as he was. The conversation with Pitch had taken a lot out of him, so much in fact, that he didn’t feel the two or three tears that finally managed to spill over his cheeks.

            Pitch saw them, the dart of guilt seemed to widen into a spear head. He stood trying to rid himself of the strange uncomfortable feeling. _’It’s not my fault he feels this way, it’s not my problem. I don’t give a damn…’_  He looked over and saw the tear drops fall onto the senseless sheet. He stormed over to Jack and grabbed him by his shoulders. He harshly yanked Jack up to his feet and then slowed his movements and gently handed him his pants back.

            Jack held them to his chest and gazed at the floor refusing to look into his eyes. Pitch walked back to the bed and mindlessly put a fallen pillow back in its proper place.

            Jack quickly shimmied into his pants, relief seeping back into him. He wrapped the sheet around him, wishing he had his hoodie.

            Pitch turned back to him and stood a foot or so in front of him.

            Jack’s legs were suddenly knocked out from under him. “Wha-!” Black sand lifted him in the air and deposited him on the edge of the bed before he had enough time to react.

            Jack placed his hands on the edge of the bed, glad for almost a half a millisecond to feel something solid beneath him, then Pitch was before him.  His hands on top of Jack’s, imprisoning them on either side of his body, his face only a few inches apart.

            Jack looked down trying not to shake, trying not to be afraid. Both were lofty actions that he could not attain with absolute perfection.

            Pitch's voice was low and rushed. “I'm not going to let you go. Can you understand me? Never. I don’t know why my desire to keep you is so strong, especially with the endless parade of inconvenience’s you supply. But I intend to keep you for some time, so rest assured in your overall safety. And know that nothing you can say or do will induce me to release you earlier than **I** desire.” ‘ _So stop trying.’_

            They gazed upon each other. frustration and confusion filled their hearts.

            Pitch stood up and resettled himself on the opposite side of the bed facing Jack. Laying across the end of it he held out his hand and a little cloud of glittering black sand flew over to the abandoned platter of food and picked up a piece of chocolate then dropped it gently into his outstretched hand.

            Pitch held the morsel out to Jack. “Take it.”

Jack looked from the chocolate to Pitch.

            “It’s not poisoned.”

Jack’s doubt was written over his face.

            Pitch rolled his eyes and called forth another piece of chocolate. He held them both in his hand, “Even though I dislike them, whichever one you pick, I will eat first. Satisfied?”

“No. “

Pitch paused as annoyance grew within him. “No?”

“If I'm going to be kept in this hole reduced to a sex object then I’d rather die.”

            Pitch sighed aggravation. “I'm not going to keep you in here forever, just until I'm satisfied that you will come back. Now have some chocolate.”

“If I'm going to be treated like this, I'm not going to come back."

"Will you just take it?" 

Jack looked at the morsel of sugar then back to Pitch. "I dont understand why you are doing this.”

_‘Uh oh.’_

“Why are you giving me this?”

“Just, just eat it will you?”

Jack looked down and away from  him, then in a defeated voice asked, “What are you going to do if I said I didn’t want it?”

 _‘Call you a liar.’_ Pitch felt one side of him demanding compliance, demanding control but he also recalled the pain his words had caused, and probably, he admitted to himself, his actions as well. “…You don’t have to… if you really don’t want to.”

            Jack glanced up at Pitch's eyes, trying to gage the truth in his words. His pale face showing just a pale glimmer of hope that was peeking out behind a dark cloud of doubt

“Really?”

“Yes really.” Pitch responded annoyed at Jack as well as himself.

Jack’s face dampened once more and was silent for a few moments the spoke carefully  “I don’t want it.”

Pitch smirked as he recalled the way his eyes had shone when he had first seen what was on the platter.

“Really?”

“Yes really.” Jack said as annoyance bled through his voice.

Jack and Pitch paused, and both had the unsettling feeling of stifling laughter.

         “You must have been suffering a bout of insanity when you first laid your eyes on it.” Pitch continued on as Jack looked at him questioningly. “Your eyes were this big,” He held up his long fingers and made huge circles around his eyes by connecting his thumb and pointer finger.

Jack blushed despite his best efforts, and spoke intending to defend his position. “I don’t get to have chocolate that often.”

“Oh? The Guardian’s have control over what you eat?”

          Jack instantly turned towards him. “What!? No, I-” he paused and quickly tamped down another blush.

   Pitch was immediately intrigued. _‘What, did he get **overly** friendly?’_ Pitch felt his heart beat a little faster. “What is it?”

Jack fidgeted then spoke “Sugar affects me ahh… a lot.”

         Pitch paused, he thought about the chocolate that was on the platter ‘ _Probably six or seven pieces…that’s okay.  As long as he doesn’t get too-’_

“I get too hyperactive.”

 _‘Damn it. Maybe I'm overestimating his scale of “hyperactive”’_ Aiming for a degree of nonchalance he asked “For example?

Jack fidgeted uncomfortably. Then, “I don’t know where you were but back in 68-”

“ **That** snow white abomination was **your** doing?”  Pitch took in Jack’s sheepish expression of guilt. He immediately waved one hand through the air and sand formed around Jack’s wrists holding them together, while simultaneously raising them in the air.

“Pitch!” Jack called out uncertainly his fear growing again.

“Shut up. I'm not taking any chances.”

Jack’s fear was quickly overshadowed by his confusion. “What-?”

             Pitch quickly reached out for the platter with his hand and settled it on his lap, away from Jack. _‘Six pieces of regular chocolate wouldn’t do much, but this chocolate is from the Indian bazaars of Calcutta, it’s way more than a little potent.’_ He picked out five pieces and sent them to a cupboard in his kitchen.

Jack watched the little pieces disappear into the blackness with sadness.

         Pitch released Jack’s bonds. “I’ve seen the aftermath of that "hyperactivity." I'm not going through that again.”

            Jack was rubbing his wrists as Pitch spoke, ‘ _What does he mean “going through that again?”_ _Does that mean he was actually afraid of my powers? Or was that whole thing a joke? Pitch Black wouldn’t be afraid of snow.’_ he rethought that _. ‘Pitch Black wouldn’t be afraid of anything. Wait, does that mean he made a joke?’_

Pitch picked up the remaining two pieces. “You can only have one. You don’t have to eat it now, but I want you to pick which one you want.”

“Why?” He asked suspiciously.

    “Because I don’t want you to think I'm going to poison you. Why do always ask so many questions?”

“But w-”

“And if you ask me why one more time Frost, I really am going to poison you.”

                Jack studied the chocolates and then picked the chocolate in Pitch's left hand. Pitch placed it back on the platter. “As a show of good faith,” he announced, then popped the other piece into his mouth.

            Jack watched Pitch drop the chocolate into his mouth _‘It seems safe enough.’_ He eyed the delectable morsel, that was taunting Jack unrelentingly _‘It looks so tasty…’_ He licked his lips once.

             Pitch immediately began watching him sneakily of course. But he couldn’t deny that the sight of that tongue tied him up in knots. _‘Hmmm…tied up in knots…’_

            Jack meanwhile was quickly succumbing to his love of chocolate he reached out and picked up the little piece.  Before he could think the better of it, he popped it in his mouth. “Oh!”

            “What is it?” Pitch turned to him fully trying to stamp out the concern that had somehow leaked into his voice.

“This is from-” he looked up at Pitch “this chocolate is from the Indian bazaars of Calcutta.”

 Pitch was astounded. “How did you know?”

“You don’t like chocolate.”

Pitch was taken aback by his nonsensical response.

“You don’t like chocolate so where did you get this piece, in fact,” Jack continued “where did you get all the chocolate?”

 _‘Uh oh.’_   Pitch stalled for time, “If you don’t like it you don’t have to eat it, really, you are such a child.”

            “You don’t like chocolate so you wouldn’t have any in your home. You would have to go all the way to India to get this chocolate. Why did you do that?”

“I wanted a few things from the market there.” he lied quickly.

            “But why did you get something you don’t like?… who was it… _‘for me?’_

Pitch couldn’t believe it was happening, but his face actually began to feel a little warm. ‘ _Am I…?’_

            “…” Jack’s shocked and slightly disturbed face combined with his sudden silence was all the confirmation he needed.

 Pitch lunged forward and grabbed the sheet from Jack’s shoulders and started to pull them down, completely ignoring the sound of the platter clattering on the ground.

            Jack pulled the sheets away from Pitch’s hands. “Wait,” Disbelief colored his voice, “Stop! I’m sorry! I'm sorry!”

            Pitch tightens the material over Frost’s arms, binding them to his side and leans forward pressing Jack backward, until his stomach muscles cramped from holding such a hard angle. His muscles gave out and he fell back on to the bed.

            Pitch was right on top, he pulled the sheet down just enough to uncover Jack’s shoulders and collarbone.

“Wait!”

            He delicately touched Jack’s face with his hand before gently kissing the side of his neck. He rolled over on to his side and pulled Jack close against his bare chest.

            Even though he was wrapped in a sheet, Jack could feel Pitch’s chest hard and solid pressed against his back, the hardened nubs a fearful reminder of what was possible.  Jack shifted around determined to finish their conversation. “Pitch…”

            Pitch wrapped his right arm under Jack’s right arm, forcing them to move even closer together as the sheet stretched. He grabbed hold of Jack’s right hand intertwining their fingers, then settled it against Jack’s chest. Pitch's right leg was in between Jack’s, and was heavy and warm against his pale leg.  Pitch buried his face in the crook of Jack’s neck “My-”

Jack paused in his struggles to listen.

            Pitch could hardly believe the words coming out of his mouth, but couldn’t seem to stop them. “My words to you earlier were too harsh. But this chocolate is not an apology, It’s, a reward for your decision to be…compliant.” Pitch could feel a slight increase of heat in his face and was glad Jack had his back to him.

            Jack didn't believe his words for a moment. The idea that Pitch would apologize was unbelievable…right? More so than Pitch's words, the true feeling behind them made Jack realize something important, something vital. Pitch was completely capable of other emotions beside anger, hate and selfishness, he could feel regret, he could feel embarrassment.  He could feel just the same as he did, the same as the Guardian’s did. The thought that Pitch might actually care for him was beyond any stretch of the imagination, but the knowledge that Pitch _could_ feel, changed his entire view of him. In some ways he hated him more, and in some ways he hated him less.

            When Pitch’s leg wrapped around his own, small amounts of unease began to settle into his mind driving out the confusion.

            Pitch, tired of the endless nagging on his senses, flicked it away in annoyance, “Relax, you are safe for the rest of the night.”

            “Then why are you still here?”

            Pitch paused, annoyed as the question nudged his own ignorance of an answer into the light of day. “Because I want to cause you endless pain and suffering.”

            Obviously sarcastic as they were, Pitch’s words did not comfort him. Jack pulled on his hand trying to free it from Pitch’s long fingers.

            “What’s your problem Frost? Quit moving.”

             Jack was too stunned by the offending question to form a prompt reply, but after a few seconds of floundering managed to push out a true objection, if not his original one. “It’s too hot; I can’t possibly lie so close to you.”

            Pitch pulled Jack against him imprisoning his arms.

“Pitch, let g-”

            “Be silent.” He said as he waved an arm through the air,

Jack paused as more spheres of sand appeared and then cracked open to spill their glittering snow-white contents.

            Jack struggled against Pitch’s firm grasp. “By the Moon Pitch! This going back and forth between cruelty and kindness, is-”

            Pitch's hand encased Jack’s throat tightly enough to make his threat obvious. Pitch spoke softly and dangerously close to Jack’s ear. “Do not swear by that entity.”

            Jack could feel the restrained strength in those hands, and nodded once.

Pitch let go of Jack’s neck and buried his nose in his white locks while he gently stroked Jack’s throat.

            Pitch brought Jack’s hand up casually licked his palm, “You know, you really shouldn’t tell your captor what you dislike, it gives them power over you.”

            Jack shut his mouth.

“And besides what can you do about it?”

            Pitch lowered his hand back to Frost’s chest. Pitch turned his head and licked Jack’s neck once before he set his mouth over it and sucked at it. Kissing it and bringing a bruise to the top of the skin. His hands were traveling down the sheet, pressing into it to feel every detail of his body. He dragged them down towards Jack’s hips when he noticed Frost was holding his breath, his eyes clenched tightly closed. Pitch paused and brought his hands back up to settle on Jack’s chest. He squeezed once imprinting the feeling of Jack’s body curled so close to his own. He had to force himself not to grind his hips into Jack’s backside. He tightened his arm around Jack’s chest, securing them together. Pitch rubbed his knee against Jack’s thigh once more and then relaxed.

            Jack was astounded to a numbing degree. _‘I'm being spooned by the nightmare king. I'm being spooned by the nightmare king. I'm being spooned by the …’_ The endless mantra repeated through his mind as the soft mattress beckoned to him, and his reasoning worked against him. _‘I'm not strong enough to fight him off; I need sleep to gain my strength.’_ By unwilling centimeters he relaxed and felt tension ease from his strained muscles as the mattress cradled his abused body.

 _‘Well this is just beyond anything I ever could have imagined.’_ He thought as Pitch Black’s steady breathing filled the air. The rhythmic in and out lulled his mind into a sense of stupor, and Jack felt his will crumble as he succumbed to the release of sleep.

            Above his head Pitch Black felt a foreign and half forgotten smile cure upward on his face. The feeling of wrongness invaded his mind again but Pitch’s last thoughts before he drifted away were decisive. _‘Fuck it_ _.’_


	12. Delayed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Govno!" means shit in Russian.  
> Fane in Romanian means crown

            The Guardian’s made their individual ways towards the pole. They had destroyed each and every one of their enemies. None had been left alive.

They suffered a complete defeat. 

            “Pitch has played this strategy well.” North said as he stood in front of the fire place at the pole. “His creatures were utterly destroyed but he has won this round decisively.” No one bothered to question or support his statements. Each of them knew how their plan of utilizing the sun would have to be postponed until the next morning. Which was exactly what Pitch wanted.

Tooth sat cross-legged on the floor, her wings folded against her back. “How did he know?”

Bunny slid his boomerangs back into their pouches. “We can’t know the true strength of his power. But he’s already snuck into the pole.”

              North nodded as he recalled the black sand that crawled over the globe, as well as the massive shadow that had been cast on the walls of the pole. “It could be that his reach has extended this far.”

             “We can’t just leave our domains unguarded, especially yours Bunny,” Tooth said as she turned towards him. “the nightmares could be sent anywhere, we can’t let them roam free.”

“I think,” Bunny began, “I think we are going to have to seal off our domains again.”

North was grim and silent. “It’s probably the only way.”

              “I hate sealing them off.” Tooth grumbled. “It takes such time to do and undo, our power will decrease over time, it’s not safe for any of us to be so disconnected, and…and it’s probably the best option we have to safeguard ourselves. As strong as he has become, I doubt very much that he would be able to penetrate that magic.”

            “At least we don’t have to worry about our duties. Remember back in the 1600’s when Pitch attacked right before Christmas?”

“Ya,” North felt his anger rise at the old memory scraped against his mind.

“We need to change our tactics,” Tooth stood. “Get back to the offensive not defensive.”

"Sounds like a good plan to me," bunny agreed whole-heartedly.

“We might as well get it over with. Meet back here in 30 minutes?” North asked.

“Better make it an hour mate.”

            Tooth leaned against the mantle above the fireplace. “Everything worth taking at the palace has already been taken. There’s no real reason for me to seal it off. In fact, it might cause more damage if I do.”  Although, the thought of Pitch freely traipsing through her domain made her blood boil. She turned back to North. “I don’t need anything from my place, do you need any help?”

“No, if I need you I'll call.”

“Bunny?”

            “I'm alright, shelia thanks.” Bunny spoke softly, he felt horrible for Tooth. She had lost the one place that was to offer sanctuary no matter what. Though it had been invaded, The Warren could be sealed and protected, tooth palace would only crumble faster if they sealed it off. it would have to remain open; vulnerable to attack. 

            Tooth knew that her sanctuary would be gone forever, unless they could raise the number of believers relatively soon; adn the best way to do that is to defeat Pitch.  “Okay.” She lowered herself into a chair and began to flick through her memory of Pitch's battle tactics. Trying to recall every move he made, every appropriate counter measure.

            Bunny glanced at North and tapped a foot on the floor. “One hour,” he reiterated, then he dropped through. North knew Bunny wouldn’t be long so he set about his business in a hurried fashion.

            Bunny popped up in the Warren and could still smell the fear and darkness that lingered in the air. He hopped his way to the center of his domain. The familiar tunnels appeared before him. He dug around in his paint bag looking for seven different eggs. Bunny grabbed the first egg, a dusty blue and held it close in one paw. He approached the tunnel that led to Africa and then with the other paw he lifted a screen of ivy off the wall. He rested the egg against the wall then watched as the egg sank through it and a responding ripple was sent outward.

            A deep sort of thunder seemed to  emerge from the entryway, before a stone wall filled it in entirely; one great slab of perfectly fitted rock. Seamlessly connected, it was clear one instant and then full of smooth stone the next.

            Bunny hopped to the next continent and picked out another egg, and repeated the process over and over to each of the seven tunnels. And soon each was filled with impenetrable stone.

            Bunny hoped back to the center of the Warren where he first appeared. He looked around and promised himself that he would survive this encounter with Pitch and that he would come back to bring Easter to the world. It was a promise he had made more than once. He held his arms straight out from his sides, parralel to the floor. Then after a moment of concentration, clapped his large front paws over his head once in a loud smack. He quickly brought them down to the ground and slapped them against the soft green grass. A tunnel appeared. He hoped in and was gone. As he left, the color and sounds of life dimmed ever so slightly. The Warren was sealed.

 

            Nicholas Saint North walked along his well worn halls. It had been years, decades, since he had been forced to close his home. Unlike Tooth’s palace his was easy enough to seal, but the aftermath of it was hard to deal with. Who would want to endure over 200 yetis together in what they deemed close quarters? They had their own homes outside, they had they had their own amusements outside, They even kept most of their food outside. What did they have inside? Work.

            He knew he would have to rely on Phil once more to maintain order.            

* * *

           The last time Pitch had forced them into such a corner North had been overwhelmed with the responsibility of keeping the yetis in line. Fights broke out. Toys were broken, the rhythm of the pole was disturbed. North had been at his wits end when Phil took control.

North had left to battle Pitch with the others. Phil, whose real name only the yetis knew, gathered his brethren together and talked to them about North's pain on their behalf.

           He told them that even now, North was fighting Pitch, putting his life on the line, to maintain their good homes, their happy lives.  He reminded them that their current situation was not permanent, it was only until Pitch was defeated. And that would last longer if they spent their energy fighting one another.

            When North returned bruised and weary he was not expecting a quiet, calm and peaceful work oriented scene. Which was good, because what he found was just the opposite.

            The workshop was loud with hammering, sawing, and yelling. The sound of trains blowing steam, bells ringing, and planes flying through the air filled the large room. The familiar cacophony was like music to his ears.

            He stood amazed, and would have liked to just go straight upstairs to sleep for a few days, but he was wary of Pitch's tricks. He had to figure out the source of such sudden and unexpected camaraderie.

            He grabbed the first yeti he saw and demanded an explanation. To his bewilderment, the giant shook his entire arm spilling forth his gratitude for North's hard work in garbled      yeti-speech, then pointed towards a yeti that was quietly working on a small toy box.

            North marched over to him and recognized him. “Phil! What is the meaning of this efficiency?”

Phil’s large intelligent eyes looked up at him.

            North remembered the exact expression, ‘ _Well what did you expect? It’s not like it could continue on the way it was.’_

* * *

North shook his head at the memory and stepped through the first of many doors.

             The sealing of his domain was not hard but it did take a little time. All that was required was that he walk through certain doors with certain intervals of time between them. Each week through the power of his magic, the doors and the required time changed.

            North spent the next 12 minutes walking around thinking about his workshop and its impenetrability. Suddenly he stopped. _‘What if Jack manages to get free and comes here seeking refuge?_ ’ He started walking again.

            _‘The toy soldiers could be of use. Loyalty may take forever to install but love is quite the opposite. I could leave one here that would guide him somewhere safe.’_ He stepped through another door then stopped.  “I'll do it.”

            North waited for a few moments before stepping through the last door. He walked back down to the workshop levels. He stationed a yeti by a window to watch for Bunny's return.

            North met Tooth back in the meeting room. “Tomorrow, were going to have to be at Pitch's lair a few hours after sunrise. That way the battle will be fought with the longest amount of light.”

Tooth nodded her agreement.

            “Now we just need to find a way to sneak into Burgess park.” They sat together discussing the best way. They could take Bunny's tunnels or the globes; the sleigh along with a full team of reindeer would be sealed inside the pole.

            They had just decided on using the globe when the same yeti that North had stationed lumbered back in. North got up and went down to the main gate to let Bunny in. While their domains were sealed, no magic could be passed from one side of the wall to another so North had to open the door himself.

            When Bunny and North arrived back at the meeting room. The three of them settled down to the task of plotting and planning.

            A few hours later, another yeti came bursting in. He spoke quickly in his garbled language to North whose face got redder and redder as his anger grew. “Govno!!“

“What? What is it!?”

            “Pitch has sent another wave of nightmares, they are surrounding the pole as we speak.” He turned towards Bunny “I do not know if this attack has been mounted on the Warren or not.”

             “It doesn’t matter mate, nothing can get in to the Warren now but me.”

"Tooth-"

             Tooth held up her hand to forstall his words. "They can't do much more damage to the palace,"  She spoke in a tone of forced calm. "We should focus on developing a plan to get to Jack back.”

Bunny nodded his agreement. “But we will have to get through them eventually.“

            “Alright then,” North turned back towards the table. The other two Guardian’s joined him and ignoring the threat outside, spoke of daring rescues and clever rouses.

             Some time was spent discussing the possibilities. but as time wore on, each Guardian began speaking over another; eager to get their ideas out and sounded on. Tooth and North in particular wanted to leave immediately for Jack, but Bunny stood quickly demanding attention.

            “Calm down! We are all concerned for Jack but we can’t focus only on that single fight. We have an advantage here. Outside our doors are quite a few nightmares, Pitch's powers have grown, but even he would need time to amass so many soldiers. If we can end this fight quickly, chances are we can take him while his army is diminished. But we must win this fight before we can reach him.”

The others were silent as they reigned in their tempers.

            “Bunny is right," North agreed suddenly. “even though we are surrounded, the advantage belongs to us. If Pitch was foolish enough to bring his beasts here to the doors of _my_ home, he deserves everything he gets.”

Bunny grew a little concerned by the decidedly evil twinkle in North's eyes.

            “Do you see something I don’t?” He quietly asked Tooth as North stroked his beard. She shook her head “Nope.”

            A few hours later North strode along a line of yetis with large brightly colored guns at the ready. On their backs were strapped massive wooden barrels. The base of each shimmered with a magical neon green glow.

             In front of the yetis, was a much shorter but much more populated line of elves. Each one had a deep cloth basket strapped to the back of their waist with brightly colored balloons inside.

            Bunny rolled his eyes but couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. Tooth stood beside Bunny not the least bit surprised by North's battle tactics.

            North stood proudly before his own version of soldiers. He glanced at Tooth and Bunny, his pride showing in his bright red cheeks. He suddenly whipped around to the dual lines behind him  “Ready men!?”

Loud jingling was heard intermittedly beneath the overpowering roars of the yetis.

             As one, they march to the rear of the workshop building. Two weaponless yetis opened the double doors for them as the two lines strode out. The elves running almost as fast as they could, while the yetis walked sedately. The elves turned left, while the yetis turned right.

            Each line moved forward, encircling the rooftopof the pole. In front of the pole a steep drop off plunged down some 400 feet. Beyond that there was a vast smooth plain of everlasting snow. It was upon this ground that the bogeyman’s hoards stood.

            At the pole, the yetis and elves lined up along the border of their sanctuary. The elves hopped up onto the thick border that outlined the roof of the entire workshop building.  Their unusually serious faces gauging the distance between themselves and the enemy. They hefted their specially made rubberized balls and pulled on their slingshots, testing for the proper elasticity; adding a strange blue oil from one bottle to increase the stretch, or spraying on a green liquid to increase its resistance to elasticity. Their large eyes were dark, intent and focused. But their silence was the most ominous thing about them.

           The yetis stood stoically behind the numerous elves, towering over their miniature comrades. Each one already fully confident in the functionality of their weapons. As well as their ability to take out the enemy. They gazed out to the meandering crowd of ebony hides, silently imaging their defeat.  

           North walked between the lines looking out every few feet to the black mass that had gotten calmer since he arrived.  He walked through the entire line and then back to the middle. He hopped up to stand beside the elves and pulled out his swords as he began shouting out commands. 

          “The left and right flank shall fire a simultaneous volley at their respective sides. Push them together, the Centermost shall hold until they are sure of a mark! Remember, once these beasts take to the air our task triples in difficulty, so pace yourselves accordingly. Crowd them and our chances of hitting a mark will increase exponentially. ”

           “We fight to protect the Pole, we fight to protect ourselves, we fight to win, To Victory! To Triumph! To the utter annihilation of our enemy!!”

As one the left and right flanks raise their guns, taking careful aim at the motionless enemy. Nickolas St. North flung his gleaming swords forward, bellowing fiercely “FIRE!”

           The rings of neon green flashed brilliantly as the magic was activated. From each gun a jet of water seemed to streak out towards the enemy like lightening, reaching immpossible distances of forty, eighty feet in a mere moment. From each slingshot a rubber enforced ball filled with water speeded with deadly accuracy into the ranks of nightmares, like miniature cannon fire.

           The mares immediately took to the air but not without consequence. North had known exactly what they would do.  They instantly flew up to disperse their great number. But the yetis had been told of this exact formation and were fully prepared.

Each ally aimed his weapon a little lower than the one on his left. Thus by elongating a single attack, they forced the mares to clump together.

           North watched the battle with serious eyes.  _‘He didn’t even show up for a battle he initiated. What arrogance.’_ His unnaturally hard blue eyes watched as the mares bunched together. _‘…Water guns and water balloons. I hope Pitch hears of how he was defeated. ’_ Although he was using modified toys to fight, this was no game. This was war. His allies, his friends could die, while Pitch could replenish his store of soldiers easily.  

           “Don’t give them the chance to break through!” North held up both his swords alerting the troops directly behind him. He waited another few seconds watching the clump of mares move together. Suddenly he whipped both swords done and all around him, missiles shot towards the enemy.

His mouth was set in a grim smile as the echoes of pain reverberated up to his ears.

 

            Back in the workshop, Tooth and Bunny sat on opposite sides of a long table. Small hoses lined the edges of the table; baskets full of deflated balloonswere strewn about them. Two dual lines of elves stood on either side of the table, builsily creating more ammunition.

“Can’t believe we’ve been reduced to manual labor. “ Tooth grumbled. “We should be out there fighting too!”

            “I know it’s hard, but this is the best way we can help. North knows what he is doing. ‘ _Even if he **is**_ _fighting with toys._ ’  He grumbled internally. “As soon as these are done we will go join him. Be patient. I'm sure everyone stuck in here wants to be out there with the others as much as we do.” 

 Tooth nodded her head as she reached for yet another balloon. She filled it up with water and placed it on the conveyer belt that ran between them.

            The green rubber reinforced balloon, glided along down the moving conveyer belt, it turned a corner and approached an open doorway. It went through the doorway and plopped into a deep basket with many other balloons already present.

            A small elf trotted up and snagged the basket pulling it forward. The elf rounded a corner and approached the duel lines of fighters. It moved behind the first pair of elves and hastily refilled its pouch with more ammo, before quickly moving onto the next elf warrior.

            After a few minutes the little green balloon was snatched up and hastily stuffed into a slingshot band. Then, it was flung out towards the mass of shifting black. It flew through the air straight through the mass of nightmares. Each horse dodging it by mistake or plan. Then the back of a huge nightmare appeared. The little balloon zoomed forward.

            The nightmares big ears twitched and it whirled around snatching the projectile with its large teeth. It snagged the knot at the top of the balloon and then hurled it away from himself before calling out to the other mares commanding those round him. They bunched up and shot backwards, allowing the center to fold in, and their companions to be annihilated. The large mare looked back over its broad shoulder its eyes gleaming hotly with white fire.

 

“Keep it up! We are going to taste complete victory today!” North shouted.

Suddenly the center of black mares seemed to shoot backwards, out of range from their attacks.

            “This is it! Prepare yourselves to fire at will, I will call for the next division so hold your ground.” North whipped out a short whistle and held two fingers down covering the holes and blew on it. A low tone reverberated around him, soon he heard a garbled yell from his left.

It was the second wave of yetis, ready with full packs of water and warmed up muscles.

            “Single file! First division to lead off to the right, second division to immediately follow. Maintain your sharp eyes and quick reflexes you will need both to win this fight.” The second division settled into their counterpart’s places as North continued bellowing orders. “Twelve to furthest most right flank, twelve to the furthest most left flank will fire in formation, recreating the barrier. The twenty centermost will hold until my signal. The rest will fire at will, but **have** **your** **marks**!”

North tilted his head to the left, “Jonquil!!”

 A strong ringing sound called out in response. “Send for Tooth and Bunny immediately.”

           A small elf dropped his weapon and pelted back through the doorway the green rubberized balloon came out of and as soon as he saw the pair he had been sent for, jingled his bell alarmingly.

            Tooth and Bunny immediately looked over and saw an elf hastily making its way towards them. As one they stood and and grabbing their weapons, rushing past the elf before he even had time to turn around.

             North watched as the center mass of nightmares rise up high in the sky. Their individual bodies indistinguishable from the others at that long distance. “Centermost! The mares in the distance will try to tempt our companions to fire at them. It will be your job to slaughter them all before they have that chance.”

The twenty yetis behind him took careful aim.

The nightmares came forward “Hold your positions!! Left and right flank are to **maintain** their original targets until the center is decimated!”

            North put his first two fingers in his mouth and whistled loud and long and clear. A set of proud antlers rose before him as a reindeer the size of a bull moose rose from one of the many hidden ice shelves beneath their defensive standpoint. North slid one of his swords back into it sheath and jumped off the lip of the roof onto the animal’s broad back. 

“North!”

North turned back to see Tooth fluttering up beside him, and Bunny who was already making his way to the top of the roof.

 He spoke quickly, “Neither of us must go too far into that mass, we must stay close to the fringes.”

Tooth nodded then zoomed away to North's far right positioning herself some seventy feet above the yetis.

            “Steady!” North glanced up to the approaching mass, then pulling on the reigns of his ride, he swerved back to the yetis. “Left flank, right flank, as soon as that center is gone, you are to switch with the third division. I want three volunteers on the roof from the **first** division, no one from this division is allowed!”  He zoomed back to his original position. “Centermost! Shoot for the center of the second wave of mares, Tooth and I will fight on the edges.”

North quickly glanced around at his forces then faced his opponents, "Attack!!"

North pulled out his second sword and charged towards the speeding mass of nightmares. Tooth followed closely before splitting apart at the meeting of the black mass.

They attacked simultaneously from both sides.

 

           Bunny stood atop the roof of the pole, his sensitive ears were able to pick up every word that North had said. His boomerangs were in his tingling hands. There were only a few occasions in which he anticipated a battle with such violent intentions in his heart. He wanted to rip these creatures apart, he wanted them to be thicker, more solid, he wanted to rend sinew and bone, not the unfulfilling give of fine grain sand.

His impatience ate at him as he stood at the top of the pole. All he could do was wait for the enemy while his friend’s battled against the bright light of mid morning.

 

            Tooth was almost immediately engulfed in by the mares but was able to get her bearings. She snapped her arms and legs straight down and dived through the sky with amazing speed. Two of the mares hooked onto her trail and chased after. Tooth smiled at their predictability.

            She eased up on her speed just a little, trying to entice more of the creatures into following her. She swooped upward and suddenly turned left as more of the mares followed after her trail. She glanced back and saw a good fifteen or so mares on her tail.  She halted in mad air and wrapping her arms around her chest she spun in a tight circle with amazing speed, reducing her image to a green blur. The nightmares couldn’t stop so quickly and all of them ran straight into her cyclone of death.

After the sand stopped flying Tooth un-tucked her arms and pulled out her sword. With the light of battle in her eyes she chased after her enemies.

            North rode the giant animal straight into the swirling mass of nightmares, both swords at the ready. He slashed at anything that came close to him. Ignoring the sound of the many nightmares that were ended by his hand. 

North leaned back to slash at another nightmare “Come forth to die by my blade!”

           Black sand was flying through the air, as the mares were forced to gather closer together. As the number of nightmares was whittled down, their sharp winnies of frustration increased in volume, but not in quantity.

Through the mass of black, white hot eyes glared with hatred into the frightened eyes of the mares. It's disdain obvious as it sneeered at the asanine display of its comrades.

White hot eyes locked onto the shape of a giant reindeer that was bucking and goring the mares around it; taking down two or three with each swing of its large antlers.

             North's steed turned sharply, kicking out with its back legs to attack the encrouching nightmares. It's intelligent brown eyes were sharp with concentratikon and determination. He had looked out through the mass of black for a new enemy, when its eyes were snagged by white hot eyes.

             The warrior beast seemed to lock in place as the white hot eyes burned into him. The giant animal suddenly snorted loudly, ripping himself away from the stabbing eyes. 

North almost dropped his sword, and was just bartely able to latch onto his mounts antler. "Fane?!”

 The deer turned to the left sharply, bellowing in fear as white hot eyes burned his flesh,

            “Fane! What’s wrong?”

             The beast twisted strangely in the air as instincts took complete control over rational thought. He shot up towards the deep blue sky; urging his muscles to go faster, the magic in his veins to take him further away from that creature of darkness.

            North slid his blades back into their sheaths and wrapped his arms around the deer’s broad and trembling neck. "Steady my friend, steady.." They burst out and away from the fighting. Only when they were free and clear from the swirling mass did North's mount stop.

          He patted the deer’s trembling sides and spoke his name gently. North knew it wouldn’t be long until the mares came after him. He had to get back down there to keep them within the firing range. “Fane, we have to go back.” The antlered animal pranced back in forth in the mid air then stamped his front hooves a few times, blowing out of his nose. Then it kicked up its heels and started back down to the fray.

          North patted his neck gratefully. “I'll protect you Fane and you protect me. That’s the way it goes, there’s no need to be afraid.” He pulled out his swords and quickly looked around the yetis had changed divisions already, he looked back over to the original center of the attack to find it gone entirely.

He could also see Bunny with the three yetis engaged in their own fight between the nightmares. “Get it together Bunny,” North took hold of the reigns and cracked them once. “Let’s go!”

 

 Bunny tucked in his arms and legs, rolling his body as he crashed back to the ground again.

“Bloody fucking hell.”

         He got back to his feet and gripped his dual weapons tightly. He glanced around at the three hulking masses that surrounded him. The yetis were smashing through the mares no matter how they attacked, alone, in groups, up high or down low, nothing got the better of them.  _‘And then there’s me…’_ His grip tightened on the polished wood.

He couldn’t focus on this fight and he knew exactly why. Worry. His thoughts kept turning to Jack. Where was he? Was he okay? Did he know that they were still fighting to get him back?

 _'What he must be suffering right now…’_ He hurled his boomerang listening to the satisfactory screams of death from his opponents. _‘Suffering right now, and I am stuck here!’_   He slashed his shielded arm through a nightmares black flank. _‘Stuck here fighting these mindless drones!’_ He hurled his boomerang once more and held his paw up for its return. Suddenly pain exploded along his back as a nightmare kicked him forward.

            Bunny landed hard on the snow covered dome. He looked up and saw a nightmare approaching him. His long ears suddenly picked up a very familiar sound. His eyes swooped to the left and watched his boomerang fly behind the nightmare and land in the snow.  

            His green eyes seemed entranced by the strange spectacle. He barely managed to lunge to the side before a mare stamped over his indent in the snow.

          The memory of Jack clinging to him so fearfully consumed his mind. _‘What could have happened to make him tremble like that?’_ A group of mares attacked Bunny from four different directions.

Bunny leapt up into the air to avoid their attacks. Off to his left another mare came sprinting towards him, he twists narrowly avoiding a voracious bite of a nightmare.

 _‘I’ve got to put it from my mind, I need to focus on this fight.’_ He tried to clear his mind _. ‘Don’t think about it.’_

He smash’s back into the ground from a direct kick.

_‘Don’t think about it.’_

-was kicked in the gut by a nightmare.

_‘Don’t think about it!’_

             He finds himself standing in the middle of a ring of nightmares breathing heavily, wincing from the pain in his ribs. Bunny rose to his full height, holding his one remaining boomerang in his hand. He glanced at its mate lying in the snow, then back at the blackened nightmares. He glanced once more towards it and then ran forward intending to attack the nightmares head on and reclaim his weapon.

            The mares trumpeted their attack lunging forward. Bunny leaped upward and placing his paw on the creatures back launched himself forward. He kept moving forward and snatched up the other pair of his boomerangs before sliding on the snow, turning to face the oncoming opponents. _‘I've got to put him from my mind, if I want to win this battle. I know I can take these things with ease. The best thing we can do is end this quickly._ ’ He looked up at the sky and saw to his dismay that the sun was already leaning towards the afternoon. He turned to his opponents with focus and renewed purpose.

 

             White hot eyes glare hatefully as the giant reindeer returned to battle. A shrill whinny burst forth from the dark creature, commanding the troops around it. Forty of the mares turn as one and shoot forwards, immediately earning the attention of the Guardians. The giant mare looks back with glowing white hot eyes and shoots backwards, dissapearing into the night.

             The Guardians tense as a group of mares suddenly comes hurtling at them.

North waved one sword in the air and bellowed back to the yetis on the roof top. "Centermost!!" He turned to find Tooth, calling out his warning before he could even see her,

             Toothina heard North's voice as she sliced at another nightmare. She immediately dropped from the sky like a stone, narrowly avoiding the barrage of water that barreled over her as the water bit deeply into their ranks; decimating their numbers.

But light is fading, they know the mares will increase in strength if they are not stopped before night cloaks the pole.

              The battle continues...

              The threesome look up into the clear sky as the world stills around them; the last bit of sand falling from the sky to dissapear. Their heavy breathing and the wind are the only sounds heard as the first stars appear overhead.

            North and Tooth turn back towards the pole as Bunny slides down the rooftop. Dejection and frustration settle in their limbs weighing them down as they trudge silently inside the pole.

            North congratulated his troops on their hard work, and then sent them back inside to get some rest. Then he follwed after Tooth and Bunny. Their exhausted bodies carried them into the meeting room and each plopped into a deep chair.

silence held sway for a few moments before Bunny spoke aloud for them all.

"Tomorow, we will go get him."

"Ya,"

Tooth didn't bother to voice her agreement.

 

            The bright morning was streaming through the windows as the Guardians met in front of the dual back doors in the work shop. North looked around at his companions, "DAny questions?" 

            Bunny and Tooth shook their heads in negation. in the end they decided to go there themselves. Pitch was constantly bring the battle to them, if they were at Pitch's lair, the battle would be fought there.

            "Allright." North pushed open the doors and slung his snow globe into the open. It burst open into a white swirling vortex. 

The three stepped forward together.

             They stepped ont into a wooded area, and instantly recognized the pond near Pitch's lair.

As one the three fall into stealth, silently they approached. They each take a knee behind a cluster of bushes some twenty feet from the entryway.  

             North turned to Tooth, and spoke calmly.  “Alright Tooth, you know what to do.”

She nodded a fire in her eyes.

            “Be careful.” Bunny laid a paw on her arm silently cautioning her to be aware of how her emotions are affecting her. She nodded once in encouragement then made her way to the hole in burgess park.


	13. Laughter

           The next day, Jack woke slowly. His body was pillowed by soft sheets. He felt a strange warmth at his back. It was pleasant, how he had imagined it would feel to wake up with someone you cared about next to you. His eyes snapped open. The realization of where he was left him with a cold and bitter disappointment. He could feel Pitch’s body heat beside his own and thought to himself how unfair life was. To fulfill the lifelong desire of waking up next to a loved one, but instead it was Pitch Black! It seemed entirely too cruel.

            Jack felt disappointment crash through him, but then he realized that Pitch was not holding him in a death grip anymore; his arm was loosely wrapped around Jack’s middle.

            He paused only a moment and as gently as he could, stepped off the bed.

His legs gave out beneath him as pain shot up from his backside. “Ow, owowowowow.”

            Jack heard a strange snorting noise.

He turned to look. And almost lost his mind.

            Pitch Black, back in his slacks, and was on his back holding one hand over his mouth laughing. **Laughing.**

            Jack turned towards him keeping his eyes on the dangerous spectacle. His mouth hung open; all pain forgotten. He wanted to look away, Moons, he wanted to run away, but pure laughter had always called out to him. Jack was unsettled.

            All his life, (at least the parts that he knew of), Jack had been attuned to laughter. It called to him. He could tell when it was a true expression of fun, and humor or a cruel laugh of humiliation and derision. _‘Pitch Black is laughing, truly laughing from the bottom of his…his heart?’_

            Jack plopped down into the snow at his feet. _‘Pitch Black is laughing because he thinks it’s funny that my ass hurts like hell. He really thinks it is funny, it is… amusing…to him.’_ His brow furrowed at the strange order of words. ' _I didn’t even know he knew how to laugh, without mocking someone in the process.’_

            Pitch’s laughter slowed to a chuckle and then to nothing as he watched Jack in silence. He could tell Frost had something on his mind. But he couldn’t get a peak it the inside of the brain. Jack Frost was not afraid right now; of nothing, not of him, not of his situation, not even of a repeat of last night, he was a blank to him. Pitch was surprised and alarmed by how comfortable that felt.  _‘Not knowing is dangerous,’_ he told himself sternly. _‘It is better to have full control all the time, than no control some of the time.’_

            Jack and Pitch glanced up at each other and their eyes locked. They were both silent, not knowing what to say.

The silence dragged on. 

            “Jack…”

            Jack’s eyes blazed, “NO.” He rushed to his feet ignoring the ache in his lower back. “Don’t you **ever** call me by that name again.” Along the floor, a thin layer of ice began to form over the snow that surrounded him.

            Pitch was taken aback by such sudden hostility but quickly overcame it. “Well, it’s not like you have much of a choice.”

            “WRONG! I would rather die before you call me casually by that name, you don’t deserve it.”

“Don’t I? I graciously let you live-” 

            “’Live!? And graciously too!’ Jack nearly choked on his voice as he spat the words from his mouth. “This is not living, Pitch. Look around you!” Jack said as he gestured wildly. “This is a black hole in the wall, which you trapped me in. For all that you have told me, the long remainder of my days are going to be spent being tortured, abused, and demoralized but thankfully,” he laughed humorlessly “I can _rest assured in my overall safety_.” His tone was drenched in sarcasm. “To be led by the nose by your every whim and then when you’ve gotten bored with me, I’ll be tossed aside like a worthless **_toy_** , with no dignity, and no respect. You dare not call that life. At **best** it’s a slow death.”

            As Jack spoke, Pitch recalled an all too real image of himself moving through monotonous years of solitude. The Guardian’s had been present for only ten or so years. He had been cast out, beaten down and forgotten like a worthless creature with no significance.  He was desperate for anyone to hear him, to see him. The return of that sense of insignificance was a serious cause for alarm. The pain had been horrible. _‘A slow death huh?’_

            He stood from the bed and made his way towards Jack.

Jack stood his ground as he held his fear in check.

            Pitch stopped a few paces from him and opened a portal behind himself. He gestured towards it. “After you.”

            Jack narrowed his eyes as Pitch just stood back for him.  He looked back at the portal. “Where does it lead?”

             “To your chambers.”

Jack didn’t believe him for a moment, and his face showed it.

“What reason could I have for lying?”

            “What reason could you have for telling the truth?” Jack was uncertain which would be the best thing to do. He knew Pitch was stronger, _‘If he wanted to, he would just throw me in a portal and be done with it, but instead he is asking me to go. Is it a trick or does he actually mean to give me a choice?’_

            Pitch rolled his eyes annoyed at the wait. “Move your ass Frost or I'll move it for you.”  Pitch smiled “Although-”

            “Save it,” Jack cut him off, trying to ignore the little stab of disappointment as he realized that Pitch would never give him a real choice. _‘But last night… last night was a foolish hope, that’s what it was. Pitch black apologize? Yeah right.’_

             Pitch could sense that to Jack, he had said something wrong. He lowered his voice, “Do you want to stay in this ‘black hole in the wall?’ ”

            Jack paused at his strange tone then looked up at Pitch, examining his face for the falsehood’s he was certain would be there. “Does it matter?”

Pitch struggled for only a brief moment then bowed to the inevitable “You can stay, if you want to.”

            Jack was caught between a desperately budding hope and the days of harsh reality. “Why- why all of a sudden-?”

Pitch shrugged in an aggravated fashion. “Just make a decision.”

            Jack didn’t know why Pitch was giving him a choice, didn’t know if it really was a choice or if it was a trick. He looked around the sparse and cramped hole. He knew he did not want to stay here. He walked towards the shadow portal and stepped through. A slight chill enveloped him for a brief moment then the darkness cleared and he found himself in a larger chamber.

            The first thing he noticed was the window that was directly across from him. It was an elongated rectangle, cut into the stone two feet deep and set with thick glass. It stood about four and a half feet above the ground. He could see the outside, the snow on the ground, the wind flying in the sky. He couldn’t help the longing that filled his body, to be free and blowing in the wind. _‘I might never touch that freedom again.’_ He couldn’t stop his body from moving towards it. _‘Pitch said he would keep me here funtil he was sure i would come back...but It's not like I ever would come back.'_

            He placed one hand flat against the chilled glass. Seeing the open land outside of the thick panes of glass calmed his intense anxiety but at the same time filled him with such a heavy longing. “This is the room you choose for me?”

Pitch stepped down beside him and could see that Jack was fixated on the window. _‘No surprise there.’_

 “Yes.”

Jack turned to look at him. “Why would you do this?”

“Give you a room?”

“Give me a window.”

            Pitch shrugged his bare shoulders “I had originally hoped that while seeing your freedom but unable to grasp it, would encourage you to yield to me for certain outdoor privileges.”

            Jack’s reply was instantaneous. “It’s not a matter of my freedom, it’s a matter of honor. I would never give my pride to you with such abandon in order to go flying for a couple hours.”

“You seemed very ready to do so last night.”

            Jack was silent for a moment. The feeling of panic sinking into his skin came back to him in dull but terrifying tones. He turned slightly from Pitch as an older memory resurfaced. Red hands and terrified tears flashed before his closed eyes. _‘If I had not maintained myself, Pitch Black, might have been no more. I could be home right now…’_ he mentally shook his head.

            He spoke softly with a small pained smile playing across his face as North's voice echoed in his mind. “You cannot take a single moment in a person’s life and apply it to them as a summary of their character.” He looked back up at Pitch and with a stronger voice continued, “No price would be too high for me to maintain my honor. I would never have agreed.”

            Pitch was consumed with curiosity as to the strange expressions that Jack was showing. But the wisdom in his voice and the levelness in his eyes convinced him of Jack’s excelled maturity and he could only agree. “Yes, it seems as if I’ve underestimated you.”

            With nothing to add to that surprising sentence, Jack turned back to the window and silently watched the flakes swirl in the air.

“Frost,”

            Jack was tired, even after all the sleep, his mind ached with his weariness, with his confinement, with his inability to extricate himself from his painful situation. He spoke with a quiet sort of dismal resignation. “ _Now_ what do you want?”

            “Are you hungry at all? You’ll need your strength later.”

            Jack rounded on him. “Pitch! You are such… I can’t be- **lieve** …” his mouth formed the beginning of a couple more sentences before he gave up. He turned back from Pitch to look out the window and took a few moments to gain control of his temper.  “I don't want anything from you... I don’t think I'll ever want anything more from you.”

            Pitch felt the urge to ball his fists at his sides as he watched him gaze silently out the window. ‘ _Here I am trying to be nice to him and he throws it back in my face. Is it all because of what happened? It was just a little sex!’_ Jack's words came back to him. _‘Why did you have to be the first?! I would have been fine if it was anybody but you!” ’_ Pitch’s eyes were steady while he gazed at Frost, who was resting his head against the cold window. _‘With anyone but me huh?’_ He felt a sense of his old self returning. The sickeningly familiar bitterness and anger rising higher with each breath he took.  _‘Guess I'm just not good enough am I?’_

            He felt his power gathering in his limbs, compounding and intensifying. It rushed through his body, tingling along his arms, wanting to get out. He could almost feel the texture of the sand beneath his fingertips. Ready and eager to kill the source of his pain. He knew exactly how he would do it. The exact motion of his hands, the way the sand would flow silently towards Jack. He imagined the way his blue eyes would grow large as he struggled for his breath. ‘ _Breath that he didn’t even have to have!’_ Pitch chuckled malliciously.

            He could feel the strength coursing through him, flooding his body and mind. _‘I should end it. Just remove any obstacles that get in my way, like I always have.’_ His eyes stared into the back of Jack’s head _. ‘Should just do it, get it over with. Hasn’t he caused me enough pain? Should just kill him. Just do it, just end it–just end HIM. Just do it. Do it now, before he gets any closer, do it NOW, kill him! Kill him NOW! JUST DO IT! **DO IT NOW!**_ **Kill HIM!! _’_**  Pitch gasped aloud as he quickly ripped his eyes from Jack.  His hand flew to his chest as his heart beat thickly. He glanced back at Frost, but he seemed completely oblivious staring out the window as before.

            Pitch focused on stealth, whatever just happened he was going to keep from Frost.

            He clenched and unclenched his hand feeling the tingling sensation fading already. _'This must be a symptom of the growth of my power.'_ He glanced back at Jack once more and knew he had had a close call. Had been on the verge of killing him _. ‘I know I don’t want him dead…I’ve got to be careful and maintain my control over this strength.’_

            He stood straight for a few moments gathering his thoughts. _‘I need to accept it._ ’ He walked back to the far wall and leaned against it. ‘ _Jack Frost is never going to **willingly** stay with me, I'm going to have to never let him go. No…’ _ He paused once more as a new thought struck him. _‘that’s, not quite right… I'm-I’m never going to have to let him go.’_ Pitch felt happier with that second viewpoint as he leaned back against the wall once more, regaining his composure. _‘But still…it’s not the same as willing to stay. Or truly wanting to._

            Jack had become entranced by the swirling eddies of snow in the sky. Watching it fly around the trees, and rush towards the ground only to be scooped back up by the wind was wonderful to see.

His heart was breaking.

           ‘ _How long will it be before I too–?’_ He leaned his head against the cool window, longing for the cold embrace of the wind. He tried to imagine the feeling of snow as it melted on his skin. It wasn’t hard, the memory of it came easily. He closed his eyes trying to remember the exact tone of the wind as it rushed past his ears, surrounding him in an all encompassing hold as it lifted him off the ground. He relived the cold rush of wind as it threw him straight into a heaped up mound of snow.

            He could see himself being lifted by the wind straight up into the air. He imagined himself flying through a thick snow storm, urging the wind to blow faster, commanding the snow to fall harder and thicker. Coating the world beneath him in a thick heavy coat of white. _‘This might be as close as I am going to get.’_ His daydream faded into light as he opened his eyes. ‘ _No.’_ His eyes took in the real snow that blew wildly beyond his reach. ‘ _North and the others are going to come back for me. I will not give up on them, they will come for me. They said they would. They will. …And when I get out of here, I'm going to sleep outside for a month! ... Although, it may be a month before they are able to reach me.’_

            He placed his right hand against the window pressing flat against it, wishing he could just sink through it and leave by himself, and not put his family in danger. Jack knew they would have to fight to get him back. He also knew that Pitch wasn’t going to give him up easily. _‘Pitch… why is he doing this to me? His range of emotions may be wider than I believed, but he can’t possibly care for me, That much has been made obvious.’_ He recalled Pitch’s words the night they slept on the same bed. _‘You are not weak, or undeserving…you have great value-"_ Jack grit his teeth in anger _. ‘Why does he say these things!? He must know how deeply they cut at me.’_

            He paused as another echo of their conversation resurfaced in his head. _‘ “she’s a friend. Not that you would have any idea what that was.”  “No. I wouldn’t.” ’_ A little sliver of doubt managed to make its way past his anger. _‘It could be that he isn’t saying these things to hurt me….but probably not. …Maybe he doesn’t know that those words are like knives in my ears. Such obvious lies,‘_ Jack paused. _‘It didn’t sound like lies. Sure there was sarcasm in his tone, but I think if he was trying to trick me, he would have said it in a sweeter voice. Maybe that was his real personality, and his real feelings…’_ The doubt seemed to multiply as it grew, and Jack was sick of all the deception. He wanted to rip apart the lies and subterfuge until he was holding onto the truth of the matter and could see it for himself.

 _‘Why_ why _was he the first person to do these things to me?! If it had been anybody else! North, Tooth, or Bunny, but not Pitch!_ ’ “It’s too cruel.” He murmured as the memory of the words he had so longed to hear, were spoken with Pitch's low tones.

            Jack sighed heavily and turned around intending to flop onto the bed. His blue eyes opened wide when he saw Pitch leaning up against the wall; he instantly understood that Pitch hadn’t left yet. ‘ _It’s too cruel,’_   He was able to force down a slight blush as he narrowed his eyes. “Why exactly are you still here?”

“Just wanted to see what you would do next.”  He smiled, easily covering his discomfort and surprise at his quiet ommision. “I’ve done it before.”

            Jack looked at him questioningly. 

“Watched you” he deepened his voice. “from the darkness.”  He laughed again.

 _‘Damn it,’_ Jack thought ‘ _there’s that laugh again.’_   He hated that laugh. It was everything the Bogeyman was not supposed to be, carefree, happy.  Laughter was the truest form of happiness, truth, and joy; how would Pitch know anything about those things?

            Pitch noticed Jack’s abrupt turn in his demeanor. “What is it that allows you to escape me so easily?”

            He chuckled mirthlessly as he was lifted out of his thoughts by Pitch’s strange question “Escape?”

            “Twice now your fear has abruptly vanished and I will understand why.”

Jack looked away, his heart increasing slightly, hoping but not really believing that Pitch would just leave it be.

            “I can smell your fear escalating Frost. You know what I'm talking about, don’t you?”

Jack thought of a million things to say, but could not force a single one between his sealed lips.

            “You do know.”

Jack jumped as Pitch's voice spoke right behind him.

            Arms snaked around Jack’s chest, but Jack didn’t fight it, as his arms were not fully restrained to his sides, he could stand it if he wasn’t fully tethered. “Won’t you tell me?” Pitch spoke softly as he nipped at Jack’s neck.

            Jack was silent. He had already had so much taken away, had already told Pitch things he had never told anyone else, who knows what else would he would lose if he lingered. _‘I can’t stay here…I can't let myself want these warm arms.’_

            Pitch grabbed his shoulders and flung him towards the bed following quickly after.

Jack caught himself on the bedpost, as Pitch came at him.

            Pitch grabbed him before he could regain his balance and flung his chest over the bed while his bare feet touched the floor below. Pitch held him down with his hand as he leaned over him, pressing his hips into Jack’s backside suggestively. He could feel Jack tense beneath him, and the fear came out in glorious but stunted waves.

            “I can feel your fear Jack, last time it disappeared we were talking, and the time before that we had both just woken up. What similarities made this phenomenon possible? I find no difficulties in telling you that I’ve never had anyone who was impervious to my sense of fear.  How-” He paused as a thought struck him.

            “Oh…Frost…” he smiled at the simplicity of it, as he removed his hand. Pitch leaned close and nestled his head in the crook of Jack’s neck and spoke softly into his ear. “You know, I was laughing both times, is that it?”

            Jack fought the urge to struggle beneath him, knowing it would only confirm Pitch's guess.

He could only stare at the green comforter that was in front of his eyes as Pitch's breath fell softly against the shell of his ear.

            Pitch could feel the stiffness in Jack's body. He tapped his chin thoughtfully as he leaned over him. His longer fingers slipped down Jack’s pale arms and then to his hands; intertwining their fingers together.

            Jack couldn’t look him in the face and didn’t even bother to struggle.

            Pitch had to admit to himself that as much fun as he got out of Frost, the times where he had been unafraid was unsettling pleasant. It was a nice reprieve to not feel the oppressive fear, especially if it was coming from someone you were determined to be in close contact with. **Especially** when it was coming from that same someone so forcefully, while you were so forcefully intent on cuming with that same someone.

            It was with real curiosity that Pitch asked, “How is it that, because of laughter, you can have fearless moments?” Pitch found the whole thing absurd, that Frost would get power from something he had done. He had unconsciously given his captive, power over the captor. He chuckled then froze as the familiar loss of fear overtook him. His eyes narrowed.

            “What is this power you get from it, my laughter?” _‘…Just my laughter ?’_ A strange feeling suddenly shot through him, he mentally shook his head to rid himself of it.

The feeling had been uncomfortably close to hope.

            He flipped Jack over, letting his hips sink to the ground with his back pressed against the side of the bed. Pitch imprisoned each of Jacks hands in his own, then straddled his waist pressing Jack back into the short legged bed, and forcing Jack to look into his eyes. He looked Frost over but he seemed ignorant of the strange sensation that had overtaken him.  

            His grip tightened as he loomed over Jack’s imprisoned body. Pitch could feel his anger rise, but he held it in check. His gold eyes searched Jack's face,

            “Frost.” He grabbed Jack by the shoulders wishing the sense of wrongness was something he could lay his hands on and rip out of him. He felt his anger spike again; he was frustrated, and angry and unable to hurt the Frostling anyways.

Silently, Jack looked up at him with his clear blue eyes.

            Unable to lash out with his hands Pitch lashed out with his tongue.

“Why does laughter affect you so? Your ignorance and dumb luck cannot explain for this phenomenon. You will never do it again.”

            Jack’s fear spiked.

Pitch felt his anger spike again. “You can’t help it can you Frost?”

            “It’s not my fault!” Jack burst out angrily, “I can’t do anything about it, I don’t even know why it happens!”

            Pitch sat back on his heels commanding the tide of anger back. He tapped his bottom lip thoughtfully. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter…” he eyed Frost’s unguarded blue eyes. He leaned in close to Jack forcing him back into the bed. He rose to a crouched position then dragged Jack’s torso up his own and threw him on the bed quickly following after. He nuzzled Jack’s neck forcing his shoulders and neck into the yielding sheets behind him. Jack’s feet pushed against the floor trying to gain any kind of leverage. He held a hand up to block Pitch’s forward motion. “Pitch,”

            Pitch took hold of Jack's hand then rubbed the corner of his mouth over Jack’s cheek and pressed his lips against Jack’s then lowered his voice, and in his most velvety, and seductive voice he could manage softly murmured Jack’s last name.

             The puff of air from his mouth settled across Jack’s sensitive lips as liquid heat pooled in his stomach, his limbs seemed to lose all their strength, even as his eyes kindled with anger. _'I can't want this touch!'_

            Jack looked back into Pitch's predatory eyes, and knew what he was thinking about doing.

Pitch held his gaze and then grinded his hips into Jack’s.

            Jack’s eyes were focused as undeniable lust flooded his body, 

Pitch held his gaze as he did it once more, pushing his pelvis forward, wanting to feel more of him.

            Jack’s abdomen clenched and he had to bite back a moan of pleasure.

Pitch held his gaze, “Tell me you don’t want it.”

            Jack looked up into Pitch’s gleaming eyes.  “It’s not the same, I, myself am never going to want you, want anyone like this.”

“You can’t deny what you feel Frost.”

            “I'm not denying it, it is you who are in denial. Thinking that I would want this type of…subservient tie. No one would truly want that. A relationship is about equality.”

             Pitch felt the wrongness increase. He wanted to caress Jack’s face but found himself fighting an insurmountable power that held his hands in place. _‘Why is this happening?_ W _hy do I care what he thinks, how he feels?’_ He got off of Jack. “I’ll be back.” He stepped through a portal and vanished.

            Jack couldn’t move. The injustice of his situation burned through his mind. That Pitch could touch him, whenever he wanted, that he could take him wherever he wanted. He went over all the things that had happened to him up until this very moment as pressure seemed to build inside him. He sat up, his hand bumped into the soft white pillows. He brought the pillow to his chest and felt his fingers curl into a fist, he hugged it close to his chest as he cried.


	14. Memories

             Pitch stepped out of his portal just beyond the walls of Jack’s chamber. _‘Something is wrong here…with me, or with him.’_ He could feel it closing in. Each hour he spent in Frost’s company sent the nameless thing closer to him. And he couldn’t do anything but wonder what it was _. ‘I don’t give a damn what he thinks about me.’_ the repeated phrase began to have a very distinct hollow ring to it. He strode through the hallways, the caverns and dark staircases, roaming the shaded walkways and subterranean tunnels before finally moving towards his room. Inside he paced the length of it thinking about his reactions to Frost. _‘I refuse to give him the upper hand…’_

_‘Wouldn’t it be annoying if he already had it?’_

_‘Of course he doesn’t have it, I am the master, he is the captive, how could he have the upper hand?’_

_‘You wanted to kill him earlier why didn’t you?’_ Pitch paused

            ‘ _Why did I want to kill him?’_ His train of thought was interrupted by a miniature nightmare as it pranced around his shoulders; whispering from the darkness. Pitch straightened his back and smiled. He called out with his powers to the minions he had created _. ‘They are coming, go out and hold them off.’_   He paused and remembered the fierce will power Frost had shown when Pitch had offered to trade him for one of the other Guardian’s. He turned his attention back to his minions, ‘ _Not death, not maimed, but bruised, and depleted of energy, weak and helpless. Those are the orders. Go.’_ He watched the tabby sized nightmare sprint through a wall. He could feel the motion of his powers surging towards the surface in order to wait for the Guardian’s arrival.

            He glanced back at the bed and thought of Frost _, ‘I'm only doing this,’_ he reassured himself _, ‘in order to keep my options open. I may want to hold the Guardian’s over him after all.’_ Pitch could feel the lie in his words. The desire to force Frost into submission had died a while ago. What did he desire now?  Was it really just the physicality of it?

            Pitch didn’t want to delve too deeply into the reasons why he had ordered the nightmares to hold back. Then he was more annoyed when he realized that the reason was because he was afraid of what was happening between them. He, Pitch Black, the Bogeyman himself was afraid! And to add humiliation to his _defeat_ , he was afraid of his **own** feelings! “Unacceptable! Absolutely unacceptable!”  ‘ _But what choice do I have!? It’s either that or accept that I-’_ Pitch whipped his arm out and punched the wall to his right, immediately halting his thoughts before they could even form. _‘Damn it, I'm not going to be sucked in by this juvenile, irresponsible, conceited, willful-‘_ Jack’sblue eyes brimming with emotion filled his mind. Pitch could clearly remember the guilt that assuaged his mind when Jack had spoken of the connections he had longed for. An image of a newly created tombstone flashed through his memory, quieting his mind. _’ Guilt is no new feeling to me. This guilt is just newly wrapped. That guilt from the past I will never be able to let go of.’_

           His booted feet seemed rooted to the floor as his thoughts whirled inside his mind. ‘ _I will never forget what happened, but perhaps I have forgotten the positive effects such a connection can give?’_  With little hope, Pitch reached back into his memories for the vague emotions of his human life. In the past, each time he tried, they seemed harder and harder to interpret. And now the only thing he could come up with was negative. _‘What good are friends for? They only stab you in the back. What good is family? They cut at you with the cruelest of knives; the deepest cuts and the most frequent attacks. What good is love? To give everything you have, everything you could have become, to be a slave to another being? To place their happiness above your own? It is the height of idiocy!_ ’ But amidst these dark musings he thought of Jack and the way he had looked at him. There were moments of fear, but there were more moments of determination, courage, confidence and occasionally pure fearlessness _. ‘It’s been so long since anyone had really looked at me while not being afraid…I mean, how long has it been since I’ve even had an actual conversation with another person?’_  

Pitch felt that the other Guardian’s didn’t count because they were enemies from the get go _. ‘But Frost’,_ he thought, _‘Frost was almost neutral.’_ He himself had wanted Frost on his side, tried multiple times to get Jack to join him; was in fact still trying, harder than he ever had before.

_‘Why doesn’t he choose me? I let him have his own room, (forcibly confined) I give him expensive food from around the globe (to assuage his own guilt), I let the Guardian’s live (to hold over Jack)… Damn it.’_

            Pitch ran a hand through his hair. ‘ _If he just wouldn’t look at me like I'm inflicting the worst sort of torture imaginable.  If he had used his head he would have realized that joining me was the smartest thing to do. He shouldn’t have gotten involved with the Guardian’s so deeply, he wouldn’t suffer so much from their defeat, and damn it, I'm feeling guilty again.’_ Pitch clenched his hands together and spoke out loud. “I am not going to be sucked in by this guilt, I'm not going to be sucked in by his body. I’m not going to be sucked in at all.” _‘I’m not going to go through that again.’_

            Pitch straightened and shook off the stinging sensation in his bruised hand. _‘I'm just going to fuck him whenever I want to, and that will be the end of it.’_ He steps angrily into a portal and steps out of it into the library and is immediately halted by what he sees.

 Toothina, standing in the middle of his living room.  

‘… _What the fuck?’_

He sees her gaze at his daughter’s picture.

            He rode the sand swiftly and landed silently at her shoulder. He saw her reach out to take the picture in her hands and he instantly clamped his hand over her own. He threw her back, away from the the aged picture he now held close to his chest. “What do you think you are doing!”

            Tooth quickly stood and crouched into a fighting position. _‘Damn it I stayed too long, could he have come at a worse time?!’_   She thought.

            Pitch was fuming. “I ought to rip you limb from-” his eyes settled on the golden tube she clutched in her hand. _“Aha!_ ” His countenance instantly smoothed. “Why Toothina, what a _wonderful_ idea.” He was smiling disarmingly as he commanded his sand.  He sealed her feet to the floor with sand and approached her, his expression changing from lighthearted banter to deadly serious. “I wish to see these memories,”

Tooth’s eyes blazed as she struggled against the sudden immobility in her feet.  “Fuck you.”

            Pitch was not in the least surprised by her answer. Being the most delicate Guardian he knew she had the dirtiest mouth. He thought of Jack in his new chamber. His expression clouded over and he released a pent up sigh of frustration _.  ‘What to do, can‘t kill her, can’t even main her properly…what should I do?’_ He tapped his chin and paced a few steps.

Tooth was on edge. _‘Something… isn’t right here.’_

            Pitch could only think of one thing to do in this situation. Bluff. He turned towards Tooth and spoke with the tone of a teacher scolding a beloved but mischievous student. “Now Toothina, you must know the enormous power I have over you. All the Guardian’s really, but you in particular, because you were foolish enough to come here alone and unaided.”

            Her determined expression remained firm. _‘Big shocker there.’_ He tsked and shook his head. “It is really in your favor to show me those memories. You might get out of here in the same shape you came in.” He smiled. “More or less.”

            Tooth was silent, furiously thinking her way out of her situation. She had North's globe, but she didn’t want to reveal it to Pitch. _‘If he got hold of it…’_

            Pitch could read her stubbornness in her youthful face and decided that after dealing with Jack, his patience had grown rather short. “Give me the memories willingly or I will keep you here and beat it out of you. I will make you show me memories from the teeth you have collected and torment children twisting their best memories into nightmares.” He lowered his voice.  “Maybe I'll even bring Jack up to say hi. You must miss him, right? I’m sure we could find lots of things to talk about.”

            Pitch watched in satisfaction as Tooth’s eyes narrowed and then dropped to the floor. He walked to her and grabbed her arm. “You will show me these memories.” He said menacingly.

            “Even if I was wanted to, I don’t know how. I’ve never tried to show a memory to anyone else before.” Tooth spoke cautiously as she was devising ways to use this to her advantage.

“Figure it out.”

“Hand Jack over first.”

Pitch paused to look at her.

She held his gaze.

“That was a very foolish thing to hope for.”

“Give him back, you must have dealt enough damage to be satisfied by now,”

            Pitch turned to her fully as anger flashed through his mind. “ ‘Dealt enough damage?’ ” He laughed in her face. “Yes, he’s had enough, but you, you, I can see, I’ve been neglecting, how wrong of me.” He laughed again.

            He stepped forward and raised a hand quickly calling his power forth to imprison Tooth’s left hand in an anchored chain to the floor. With his left he imprisoned her right, while his right was placed on her shoulder, his thumb just touching her vulnerable neck.

            His gaze darkened as Jack's vivid blue eyes bore into him, halting his damaging intentions. Pitch tightened his hold as he looked into her defiant lavender eyes. He masked his anger as he gripped her hand tightly.  Then let go of her, he reached down and snagged the golden tube from her.

            He smiled in satisfaction when he saw a shadow of fear flit through her eyes.  “No. You can take damage, you don’t like it doled out to others.” Pitch turned away from her, letting her see his smile.

“You will show me those memories or I'm going to bring Frost up here and grind these teeth into powder.”

Tooth meant to keep her face clean of emotion. If injured, Jack would recover, and quickly too; if those teeth were gone, Jack would never know anything about his family.

Pitch stared expectantly into her eyes. 

Tooth felt a small vein throb angrily in her forehead. “Release me.”

            Pitch was silent for a moment, evaluating his options and weighing their strengths. Then he wordlessly shifted the sand and crouched down as Tooth sat on the floor.

           She sat for a moment feeling the pain throb from his tight grip, but refused to acknowledge it in front of Pitch. ‘ _How am I going to do this…?_ ’ She reached out a delicate but strong hand and took hold of the Bogeyman’s. With her other hand she held the tube. She began to mutter indistinctly.

            Words that Pitch had never heard flowed around him. His hand clamped tightly onto Tooth’s wrist, silently threatening her. Suddenly his vision went black for an instant and then cleared to show him a slightly wooded area with three people in it.

            In the instant it took for this picture to form, Pitch had immobilized Tooth in a cocoon of sand and had grasped her tiny wrist in a grip of steel, as he loomed over her.

             “I’ve never tried to show someone a memory of a child before, I don’t know what is going to happen.” She reminded him.

            Pitch could feel the fear in her, it was always so much clearer when he was in physical contact with the focus of his study. But if she was afraid, that meant he had power over her.

            He let his focus drift to the memory that was unfolding before his eyes, while maintaining a conscious hold on Tooth, her actions and his surroundings. In the memory Pitch instantly recognized Jack Frost. The tallest, he had that trademark smirk on his face. Pitch shook his head _‘Even then,’_ he thought.

            He sat back pulling Tooth up until they were both seated on the floor. Pitch's hand wrapped around Tooth’s tiny wrist for collateral.                                                 

            There was a small female child that was turned away from him, as well as an older woman both of whom he assumed were related somehow to Jack _. ‘They must be his sister and mother..._ ’

            The older woman was carrying a basket, and Pitch could see inside the hand-painted eggs. _‘Aster certainly left an impression- too bad they don’t get along now. Ahahaha! If he knew how much Jack had believed in him.’_   Pitch chuckled  at the thought.

            Suddenly, the memory blurred, Pitch tightened his hold on Tooth’s arm. “Toothina…”  Pitch warned.

            “That’s all there is to it, whatever the important memory or feeling that needed to be remembered was held in those few moments.”

“What was so special about them?”

 “I don’t know, only Jack would know.”

            Pitch was silent as a strange form of jealousy stole into his mind. ‘S _he calls his first name so casually…_ ’ Another image of Jack formed. He was outside, and judging by the gleeful sounds, he was successfully entertaining a group of children by parading around with antlers held against his head. His lean body was lit by the fire in front of him. In this memory, Pitch could not see any of the people very well, other than Jack. There was a feeling of contentment that seemed to layer onto his mind. He fought the urge to shake it off knowing that it was not a trick but simply a part of the memory. _‘Jack must have felt very happy indeed.’_ He could hear the children calling his name as they laughed. 

            The memory blurred and then cleared again to show a grassy meadow with three children playing in it. The three children were all a little pale, a little thin, and seemed to be playing what must be a game of some sort. He watched as Jack ran around and in between the children; encouraging them to run with him. The first was a boy younger than Jack or at least shorter, another very young boy and the third person was his presumed sister.

            Pitch watched as the others were drawn into his game of make believe. Suddenly Jack pivoted and ran towards the girl, he scooped her up and threw her up into the air. The memory seemed to zoom in and focus on her young and happy face. A face that Pitch wouuld have recognized anywhere.

His heart stopped.

            He felt his jaw slacken and his eyes widen. The breath seemed stolen from his chest. He gasped, his body felt like it was being pulled in a million different directions. Panic was the paramount emotion that clawed its way to the top of all the others. _‘Who is she? Who was she? His sister but- it’s not even possible! When was this? Where? How- Alright, Stop. Calm down.’_ He told himself.  _’It’s not her, my daughter is dead. She’s…’_ he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Images of his daughter’s smile, her eyes, her face seemed to flood him and overlap the images before his waking eyes, melding them together flawlessly.

            Tooth could feel her wrist bones being tightened closer and closer. She fought the urge to ask Pitch to let go, but soon her hand began to feel numb. “Pitch,”

No response.

             She turned her attention to the memory and tried to shift it, to get his attention; but it didn’t work. Her dream trance power was commandeered by Pitch, she felt her own heart beat a little faster. “Pitch let go,” She placed her other hand over his and began prying his fingers off.

 _‘            Wait…can I trap him in this?’_ She thought furiously for a moment _. ‘It’s not a complete impossibility.'_ Her heart beat a little faster in hope but then her smile suddenly faded _. ‘If I trap him here, Jack would never get to see his memories… I don’t know if it would even work, or if Pitch would be able to fight his way out of it. ’_ She thought for a few moments about Jack _. ‘Nope. definitely not worth sacrificing his memories over.’_ Blocking out the memories, she returned to prying Pitch's grip from her wrist.

            Jack’s memories continued but they were disjointed and bled into one another. Pitch didn't even care, each time Jack’s sister came up, the images slowed while his heart was slammed violently against his rib cage, both screaming in agony and crying in delight. All other people, all other actions seemed faded and faraway. Everything but Frost’s sister. Her face, her voice, called to him the sweet song of remembrance.

            He breathed heavily through his nose once or twice desperately trying to grasp at his senses. _‘I know that is not my daughter. I know that this child is the sister of Jack Frost.’_ A new memory  took shape before him showing Jack holding his sister by the edge of a bed. She was shaking, her eyes were red and puffy; it was clear she had just been crying. Jack was smoothing her hair down her back in a gentle sort of way.

            Jack’s words were mostly unintelligible, but his tone was distinct and defined. He was talking quickly but his voice was gentle. He was adamant but compassionate. He was strong, but calm. Through all the confusion; through all the shock, Pitch actually felt a little stab of jealousy and was rendered speechless at his own emotion. It was in this moment that Pitch Black felt his mind clear for an instant. It was during this split second of time, that he first considered that it might be no bad thing to be cared for by someone like Jack Frost.

            Pitch watched the scene and felt a little niggling at the back of his mind _. ‘There’s something… about this…’_ his eyes quickly searched the scene before it could blur away. He took in the surroundings. The rough wooden walls, the scarcity of toys, the he stopped. He zoomed back  in on her face. _“No, it couldn’t possibly…’_  Pitch crawled along his old memories and thought back to a day more than 300 years ago. He knew this girl, he had seen this girl before. His eyes darted back and forth trying to ignore the blurring images before him as he ferreted out the aged memories.

            There had been a little cabin in the woods. She had a family, but Pitch couldn’t recall them very well. He tried to remember her with her brother but nothing certain came out of it. At the time he was not important; only she was.

 _‘Is this really the same girl?’_ He fought with his mind to produce a picture of Jack’s sister from his own memories, but none could be called forth.

            Pitch refocused on the images around him as another memory ended. A new one formed, it was Jack and his sister again. _‘They must have spent a great deal of time together.’_ She was leading him eagerly out of their cabin door.

            Pitch watches them with an interest that had tripled.  The memory shifted a little as if it was shaken. “Hold it still damn it!”

            Tooth spat her words out in anger and pain, “Well, if you weren’t crushing my fucking wrist! -Let the fuck go!” Pitch immediately realized that he was squeezing her wrist with what could be compared to as the grip of death. He loosened his hold and turned his attention back to the memories before him.

            Tooth was relieved, annoyed and confused. _‘Who is that girl to Pitch? She looks like Jack, maybe it’s his sister! But why is she important to Pitch?’_

            The image resettled and Pitch saw the pair standing in the middle of ice. They were both standing unnaturally still. Pitch instantly took note of their fearful faces. He watched the girl glance down to her feet. When Pitch saw the ice cracking beneath her, his heart clenched in fear, “No, damnation!” He snarled as he put a hand on the ground as if to launch himself forward but then he remembered himself. _‘This is only a memory. Nothing I can do now, can change what is going to happen.’_

He settled back down and watched as Jack gently laid his own skates on the ice beside him. His words were mumbled even worse than before but he could see the concern etched clearly on his face but for some reason Jack was smiling.

            Pitch quieted his mind, and concentrated on the memory before him, willing himself to understand what was being said.  “Can’t you make it any clearer?” He asked Tooth.

            “Never done this before. Don’t know how many times I have to say it.”  Nonetheless she was also very concerned about what would happen to Jack’s sister, and she too concentrated on making the sounds clearer.

            Soon after the sounds seemed to sharpen. Pitch focuses on the images in front of him. Jack and his sister were still on the ice. Jack was speaking, “I know, I know, but you’re going to be alright, you’re not going to fall in, uh, were going to have a little fun instead.”

“No, were not!”

“Would I trick you?”

“Yes! You always play tricks!”

            Jack’s brown eyes were focused and serious despite the carefree words that were coming from his mouth. “Ah, well alright, but not, not this time,” Jack looked down at the cracking ice. “I promise, I promise, you’re gonna be fine, you have to believe in me.”

She bit her lip and seemed to gather her courage and nodded timidly at him.

            Jack stood straighter, “You wanna play a game? Were gonna play hopscotch, like we play every day.”

            She began to smile in earnest.

            ' _Foolish child, believing in him so easily.’_ But Pitch couldn’t deny that she trusted him with her life. Pitch had to fight the urge to turn away from the image of his daughter standing over perilously thin ice.

            Jack hopped on one foot to the right. “It’s as easy as one… whoa!” He balanced crazily on one foot, encouraging her laughter. “Two… “ He took another step to the right, and hopped forward. “Three…” he bent down on the thicker ice and grabbed a crocked staff that had fallen on the ice, which Pitch instantly recognized as Jack’s staff.  The one he had gleefully snapped in half. A little shadow of fear fell on his mind, _‘Just what was that staff to Jack Frost?’_

            Jack held the staff in both hands. “Allright, now it’s your turn,” He held her gaze to give her some confidence. “One…”

She stepped forward and gasped in fear as the ice cracked beneath her.

“That’s it, that’s it.” He coaxed her forward. His eyes watched the ice as it crackled beneath her feet. “Two…”

She looked up at him in fear as she began to tilt on the uneven ice.

“Three!” He lunged forward and hooked her waist with the staff. He flung her forward using all his momentum to pivot her forward as he flew in the opposite direction.

Jack sat up and breathed again when he saw her look at him and smile from the safe end of the pond.

            Pitch felt a strange sensation building inside of him, it was relief. He knew that this girl was not his daughter, but he couldn’t help but see her face.

            Pitch couldn’t stop the gratitude from making itself known to him. He knew that he had no connection to Jack’s sister other than the similarities she shared with his daughter, but the feeling would not be repressed. Jack had lifted her from a terrifying experience that otherwise, would have undoubtedly ended with her death.

            Jack stood on the ice and stepped towards her; suddenly the ice crunched and broke apart.

“Jack!”

            “Whoa!” He flung his arms out but fell down into the icy cold depths. The last thing the memory box showed him was the moon, big and white through the cold water.

            Pitch was stunned. Jack had risked his life for her and lost it, only to be reborn again and suffer in solitude for over 300 years. _‘He saved her life. He-’_ Pitch wanted to back away, to get away from the sight of such love, it wasn’t for him to see, wasn’t for him to experience, he had made his choice long ago, and still believed that he could save more lives the way he was now. _‘Or at least the way I was… I’m not the same, it’s that- it’s his fault,’_ Pitch glared around at no one. _‘ **I** choose to do this my way, in my own time! I refuse to be taken in by this gangly youth, this-infantile ignorant-’_ decrepit memories of anguish sliced through his mind.

            Images of himself kneeling with his daughter’s dead weight in his arms, her bright eyes never more to shine with laughter, with love, with humor. All the things that Jack's eyes could shine with. Pitch ripped himself away from the painful memories. _‘I'm not going to go through the pain again, Never Again!’_

            Pitch releases Tooth and holds his ground as the magic around him breaks apart, falling away from him before disintegrating into nothing.

            Tooth was huddled on the floor clutching her head, swearing viciously. The sudden cracking of her power gave her a stabbing headache. She yelped in surprise and pain when Pitch hauled her up. She barely had time to notice that Pitch had the teeth clenched in his left hand, before she was thrown into an awaiting portal.

             With that taken care of his mind was his own to contemplate. _‘I have seen this girl before, I must have seen him too…’_  He mined through his memories again looking for any moment in which he might have seen Jack. He now recognized the familiar sinking feeling as Frost once again, rose to the foremost of his thoughts. ‘ _I'll deal with that later, this is more important,’_ the sinking feeling deepened drastically. _‘Damn it, this is important, I refuse to feel guilty because I want to know who he was before!’_

            Suddenly his mind obeyed him. He recalled once he was walking beneath the trees as twilight faded into night. He remembered seeing a young boy in brown pants, with a sort of layered jacket. He recognized him now as Jack Frost.  He had been running away from a rather well furnished house (compared to the others in the neighborhood.) His quick and silent  flight from the newly lighted home, eager to remain unseen and the triumphant grin proclaiming his success as he ran off into the night, the shade of guilt hiding beneath it; Pitch recalled being curious as to the conflicting traits. The boy had ran all the way back to a small cabin and presented his mother with the two loaves of bread that he had tucked under his arm.

            A taller woman whom he had seen in Jack’s memories was staring at him with her hands on her hips. _‘Definitely his mother…‘She looks very angry.’_ Her mouth was set in a thin line. _‘Jackson overland, where did you get these? How many times do I have to tell you!’_ Pitch's thoughts drowned out Jack’s placating protests _.  ‘Jackson Overland. That was his first name… Jackson Overland.’_

            _‘Well, now I know what happened to him, but what had happened to her?’_ Pitch shuffled through his memory again. Just as suddenly as the first memory came to him, he recalled seeing her after Jack must have passed. One night he had come by and noticed that she was weeping.

             Her eyes were puffy, she wasn’t in her room but in his. Pitch had turned away from her. He had never really began to give her nightmares again. His heart wasn’t in it. ‘ _Maybe even back then, he changed me._ ’

            Suddenly he snapped his head upward. A fury like he had rarely known took hold of him. _‘Jack Frost has changed me?! No fucking way! What are the chances that a Guardian would have a sister that looks just like my daughter?’_ He wanted to cut at the moon _, “Why do you always seek to torment me!?!! Why with her face?!”_ His hands curled into claws.

             He struggled to maintain himself.   _‘It’s not like **she** was my daughter’,_ a voice seemed to slither in his ear. _‘Just because they look alike, -exactly alike- doesn’t make it the same. And besides Jack should have realized that the ice was too thin. What kind of a protector was he? Did he even care for her at all? Did she?’_ he looked up in determination _. ‘I have to know who she was to Jack Frost. Maybe he didn’t really care, he thought he was going to be allright so he just acted the hero_.’ He knew it was not likely. But he was desperate for any reason to explain his feelings.

              _‘I_ _have_ _to know who she was to him. If he really cared, why he saved her.’_ He stops struck by the significance of his need. ‘ _Perhaps this is why I wanted to keep him, why I am unable to leave him alone, he reminds me of her. This is the answer to all my problems!’_  Relief seemed to seep into his bones. Pitch remembered him, as a companion of his daughter, a protector, a beloved friend. But who was she to Jack? He turned on his heel and stepped forward, then paused in mid step, “Where is my portal?” He waved his hand in the air and commanded a portal to Jack’s room _, ‘Must be more out of sorts than I thought if_   _I have to stop and actually command the sand in to its place to create a portal.’_   He stepped through annoyed at himself for getting all riled up. He turned back to the shelf and snatched the aged picture from its place. Then marched back to the portal, stepping angrily through it.


	15. Released

            Pitch stepped out of the portal and onto the cold floor of Jack’s room.  “Who was she!?” 

Jack jumped out of the snow, shocked out of his sweet dreams of the Guardian’s. 

            “What!? What!?” He hastily backs up as Pitch lunges after him.

“This girl!” He thrust the picture of his daughter under his nose, hoping to startle him into answering. “Who is she to you?”

            Jack now takes a step towards Pitch yelling right back. “I have no idea! I’ve never seen her in my life!”

“Was she your sister?” Pitch pressed.

            “My sister!?” Jacks confusion was overshadowed by disbelief.  “I don’t even know what my mother or father looks like! I don’t know if I had any other family at all! You of all people should know this! You’ve created my ignorance!” He abruptly turned and took a few steps from Pitch.

             Pitch looks up quickly as the temperature drops suddenly. He narrows his eyes ‘ _He is getting his power back much quicker than I had anticipated.’_

            “Even if she was my sister, I wouldn’t know what she-”  He abruptly stopped. He turned his head to look at Pitch with intense eyes, focused and sharp.

Pitch looks back down at Jack.

            “Why do you think this is my sister?” He pivoted his body until he was fully facing Pitch. “How do you even know if I had a sister?”

“...Well, ”

            Jack lunged at him suddenly, kicking his legs to the side and shoved Pitch to the floor.  He grabbed the collar of Pitch’s cloak with both hands, yanking him up to his face,  “YOU took those teeth!! I know you did! I knew I didn’t dropped them in Antarctica. They belong to me! Give them back RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!”

            Pitch (if it were possible,) was completely dumbfounded.

“Pitch! “Jack snarls threateningly as he slams him against the wall again, leaning over his crouched form.

            Pitch loses himself for a moment as a sharp bolt of lust screams through his body. But he quickly regains himself. “You know nothing of it?”

            “No, but it’s obvious that **you** do! Where are they! Take me to them right now!”

Pitch ran his fingers along the base of Jack’s arm.

            Jack slams him back into the wall “I'm not playing around anymore Pitch.” But his defiance only made it worse.

Pitch looks straight into Jack’s eyes. “Fine, I'll _take you_. There’s no need to yell so loudly.” He smiled and Jack was instantly suspicious.

            “All you had to do was ask.” He purred.

Jack looks confused. Pitch snakes out a tendril of sand and knocks him off his feet, then pounces on him _,_ holding him down.

             ‘ _DAMNATION!!’_ Jack struggles uselessly against Pitch’s superior strength. “Let me up!” He yelled with a threatening undertone.  “I'm so close now, so close I won’t let them go for anything! I'LL KICK YOUR FUCKING ASS! Let me **UP**!”

            “No.” Pitch smiled, silently delighted to have Jack struggling beneath him once again. Jack pushed against Pitch with all his strength but to no avail. He laid there panting for a few moments, gathering his strength.

            “What? No snarky comebacks, no false proclamations?”

            Jack leaned up yelling in Pitch’s face. “I **need** those teeth! I need to know who I am! Why I am here!” Jack viciously chocked past a sob. “I need those teeth!” Jack feels the traitorous tears well up in his eyes and his body slumps in defeat. 

            Pitch is surprised and very suspicious at the sudden compliance of his prisoner. “Why should I give them to you when it obviously causes you such strife to be without them?”

            “Are you **really** so cruel!?”Jack asked.

Jack's words struck him cold. Pitch's lips parted in surprise as he stared down at his prisoner speechless.

            Jack turned his head to look at his right arm that was still imprisoned in Pitch’s grasp.  He turns to glance back at the dark man above him. He held Pitch's eyes for a moment and slowly raised his arm.

            Pitch hesitatingly lets go of it wondering what Jack would do.

            The urge to strike out at Pitch was strong but his desire to know who he was and where he was from, was greater. He slowly raised his freed hand and touched it gently to Pitch’s face. Jack could see the surprise on Pitch's face. He spread his hand open and cupped Pitch's cheek with his hand, and gently rubbed his thumb across Pitch’s gray cheek.

“Please? Please give them to me?”

            Pitch had no idea how to proceed, he was not expecting a yielding plea, his soft voice soothed him while simultaneously raised his hackles. ‘ _He’s touching me. Not,_ exactly _willingly. But it’s been so long…’_ He had to tell himself not to lean into Jack’s hand.

            “I don’t have anything else to give you,” he whispered as he tentatively raises his other hand, and places it on the other side of Pitch’s face. He tried to smile encouragingly, “Please?” Jack leaned up hesitatingly.

            Pitch found himself yielding, to Jack, to his lips, to his words. Jack cupped Pitch's face in his hands and brushed his lips against Pitch's still ones.

Pitch was silent as he focused on the sensation of Frost’s cool lips pressing against his own.

            Jack placed a hand against the floor to prop himself up and then shifted his hand until he was cupping the back of Pitch's neck. Jack pushed against Pitch's mouth.

Pitch finally caught up to what was happening and kissed him back.

            Jack could feel Pitch take the lead in their kiss, and knew that he had to keep him off balance. “Let me have the teeth.” He tilted his head to the side and parted his lips pushing his tongue against Pitch's lips.

Pitch's eyes opened fully in surprise once more as Jack’s tongue slipped into his mouth.

            Jack tried to let his body run on instinct, pushing his situation from his mind he focused only on the sensations his body was feeling.

            Jack tilted his head and closed his eyes as he kissed Pitch. No hurry, no physical force, no confinements. Just a lazy drawn out kiss. Jack had never before felt such a wonderful thing, his heart fluttered within his chest. ‘ _It’s not real– if it was anyone but Pitch…’_ He pulled away for a moment, “Pitch? You don’t need those teeth, let me have them. Please?”

            Pitch pulled back briefly but Jack followed after once more pressing their lips together, carefully stoking the embers that burned between them

Pitch's eyes were dull and unfocused. He couldn't recal having ever kissed anybody like that, had never imagined a kiss could **be** like this. So free, so soft, so gentle.

            Jack brought his hand back to cup his cheek gently, as he pressed his lips against Pitch's once more, “Please…” he pulled Pitch towards himself and tentatively raised one knee allowing their hips to join more firmly.

            Pitch let himself be dragged along in the wake of desire. He lowered his head as he pressed deeper into the kiss. and was soon lost in the sensations that were overwhelming him. “Ja- Frost,”

            Jack pulled back and was able to stitch together a painful smile, “Let me have them, please?” Jack’s hands were shaking as he lowered them to Pitch's waist. He dragged his right hand over Pitch's waist and settled it against his hips, too nervous to go any further. He leaned upward and caught Pitch's mouth with his own “Please?” _‘Is this not enough? Am I not…?’_

             Pitch liked the cool hands that were laid on his waist in gentleness. Realizing just how much he did like it, he stopped leaning towards Jack and looked him in the eye.

            Jack paused uncertain if he should continue. The gaze that Pitch was casting on him was less lusting and more considering, _‘I’m losing him…’_ He reached up once more for him with his lips, he kissed him once more but could sense Pitch moving further away from him, already beyond his reach. Desperately his voice broke out into a plea “I need to see them… my family… my sister!” He dropped his hands and pushed against Pitch’s chest.

            So startled was he, that he sat back on his knees as Jack climbed to his feet, turning away from Pitch, which made him snap back to reality,

 _‘No!_ ’ he grabbed hold of Jack’s arm and held it tight, bewildered as his arm seemed to reach out of its own accord. He refused to let go, or give into the look of confusion Jack was giving him until he decided what to do. _’I just need a minute, just one minute to think-’_

            Jack turned back to look down at Pitch, hope sparked as he perceived the indecision on his face. He turns towards him fully moving his free hand to intertwine their fingers. “Pitch?” He calls softly, he steps closer, “Let me have them, please?” He kneels down in front of Pitch and caresses the side of his face again.

            He inched closer to the taller man, leaned upwards, and wrapped a hesitating arm around his waist and then kissed his lips. ”What harm could it do? I can’t leave, there’s no reason not to give them to me…”  Jack gently turned his wrist that Pitch was still holding onto, lowered his head and kissed the back of his hand. “My past must be such a trivial thing to you…there’s no reason for you to keep them. Please give them to me.”

            Pitch sent out a wave of sand, sending them both to their feet and then shoved Jack into a wall, slamming either hand on the side of his head. He leaned in close, “’Please’ and ‘Pitch’ is that all you can say?” 

            “Wha-“ Jack floundered for a moment from the sudden anger and strength that slapped him back into the reality of his situation. “What should I do to convince you? What can I do!? I have nothing else to give you! I would give anything to know what is inside those memories, to know who I am. But you’ve already taken everything from me! My freedom, my power, my self-respect, the only family I have ever known,” Suddenly Jack lashed out his fist connecting with Pitch’s jaw, “and now you taunt me with the one thing I have coveted above all else! What the hell do you **_want_** me to say?!”

            Pitch stood and dusted his shoulders off. “You think you have it so bad Frost, you think you’re whole pathetically short life is such a tragedy, no one has had a harder life than Jack Frost, no one could-”

             Jack couldn’t help laughing mirthlessly.

“And what is so funny Frost?”

            “I’m certainly not going to tell you, do you think I enjoy it when you…” his voice trailed off.  They stood at opposite ends of the room.

            Pitch folded his arms across his chest. Pitch knew that Jack needed some kind of reassurance after the damage he had inflicted, he lowered his voice and tried to inject it with the truth he was feeling. “I won’t hurt you. Speak and I will listen.”

 Jack narrowed his gaze, disbelief stark on his face. “Bull.Shit.”

            Pitch continued “I won’t even touch you. I’d love to hear you tell me about someone whose life is worse than your own. Go on, astonish me.”

Jack looked around the darkened room and ominous bed. He shook his head.

            Suddenly Pitch recalled a memory of his own involving Jack Frost while Jack was still human. His mother had been yelling at him for something. He had been standing next to his sister and both were covered head to toe in mud. _‘I swear Jackson, if you weren’t the spitting image of your father I’d…’_ that was all he could recall. _‘She must have had the patience of a saint to not have throttled him long ago.’_

            Pitch tapped his long fingers on his chin thoughtfully _’Patience_. _’_ “Allright how about,” he stepped back into the shadows.

Jack bared his teeth in anger, he felt arms close around his chest too late as he was pulled back into the shadows. “Pitch!”

            He was swallowed by the shadows, and for a brief moment, the only thing he could feel were Pitch's arms wrapped securely around him. Angry as he was, he was grateful to have something to hold onto when moving through that cold blackness. When he could see again he was in a dimmed room lined with bookcases and books, chairs and even a couch. A fire burned dully in the grate.

             Pitch slowed the withdrawal of his sand by just a few moments as he enjoyed the sensation of holding Jack without holding him down. He released Jack when it became apparent that they had fully arrived. He placed the cause of his lingering touch on Jack and his delectable body.

            Pitch offered no explanation, just gestured for him to follow. He went around and lit more lights with a flame and put them under hurricane glass. Jack looked around the new room and followed, slightly reassured by the light;. Pitch leaned back in a chair by the fire and gestured for Jack to take the other.

            Jack scoots the chair away from the small flames, daring Pitch with his eyes to say anything. He stands behind the chair doubt of Pitch's true intentions running through his mind.

“Better?”

            Jack watched him with wary eyes as he began drumming his fingers uneasily against the back of the chair. “I don’t know how you mean.”

Pitch laughed, “Don’t lie to me Frost; I could smell your carnal fears the moment I stepped into that room.”

            “Well it’s not my fucking fault,” Jack muttered viciously ignoring the little nagging of his senses as Pitch's laughter ended.

Pitch smiled confidently. “Speak.”                                      

            Jack was clearly uncomfortable; he had never imagined a situation where he would be just talking with the Bogeyman. “Why do you want to know?” he hedged.

“Because, I hate your youth.”

             Jack turned to look him fully in the face, surprise coloring his voice, “What?”

            “I want to see if you can dispense of it for once.” _‘Then I’ll know that you actively choose to make trouble, and I can go back to hating you in peace. It’s not like he could have a reason for doing these things…’_ Pitch waved his hand for Jack to continue, “Tell me, whose life is worse than your own?”     

                   Jack lowered himself into the chair and studied Pitch's face in the flickering light, trying to discern his true objectives.

             “I’m not going to touch you so quit stalling and answer the question… or is it that you can’t?”

            Jack felt his chin rise up in anger. “You believe that I think my life is a tragic story, well… you’re right. I do. It is.” Jack ignored Pitch's lifted brow and continued. “But there are stories out there worse than mine… like yours.”

            Pitch’s mouth thinned, his head bowed and the air around him seemed to darken; his golden eyes glinting beneath dark brows like lightning bolts in a thunderstorm. He spoke softly, “It may have been wise, to say nothing after all.”

            Jack swallowed nervously, already regreting his bold words. “Let me explain,”

“Yes. Do that Frost. Explain.”

             Jack decided he needed to backtrack very quickly. “I don’t pretend to know everything about your life.”

 Pitch couldn’t help the way his mouth curved upwards. _‘That’s probably the best thing he could have said right now.’_

            Jack paused as Pitch's half smile threw him off. He dispensed his surprise and began thinking about the best way to frame his thoughts into words. Words that wouldn’t have him lying on his back in pain. Or pleasure. He blushed slightly at the thought. _‘Not that I_ like _what he does to me, it’s not my fault the body reacts the way it does._ ’ He suddenly recalled the feeling of Pitch's lips on his own,  gentle, slow, and carefull.

            Pitch was curious about the soft blush that adorned his captives face, but pressed on. “Well?”

“I'm thinking, alright? I’ve never tried to put it into words before.”

            “Really?”  Pitch was a little surprised; he had always imagined the other Guardian’s telling him about all the horrible things the Bogeyman has done. He had imagined that they had canvassed his story many times. _'Not that they know it well.'_

            Jack continued slowly, choosing his words carefully, “I know that you have been here longer than I have, and much longer than the Guardian’s.”

Pitch nodded his agreement, not willing to divulge how long that exactly was.  

             Jack lowered his gaze to his pale hands and interlaced fingers. “You told me that you knew what it was like to be cast out, to not be believed in, and to long for a family.”

Pitch nodded, surprised that he would remember his words so clearly. He swatted away a little shaft of warmth at the thought.

            “I too know what it is like to be incomplete, like you’re waiting for the other parts of you to connect together so you can finally move forward. I’ve tried everything to be seen, spent endless hours trying to create the perfect snow day or the perfect sled ride. One time I stood in the middle of the street in Tokyo and just screamed at the top of my lungs and people just… they just, walked through me.”

            He leaned forward one hand flipped over in a gesture of emphasis, “But then I met the Guardians, and I knew they would always be out there. Knew I could talk with them if I wanted to, but I believed they didn’t want to talk to me. Who was I, but a troublemaker and a nuisance;” he glanced at Pitch meaningfully “making a mess everywhere I go. But I had them all: Bunny, Tooth, North.” he locked gazes with Pitch, “Sandy.”

            Pitch tensed.

 The room was silent for a moment. “I'll never forgive you for that.”

            Pitch felt his face pale. An aged memory came rushing to the surface of his mind, a young female voice seemed to speak into his ear. _‘I'll never forgive you for that Daddy, never!’_ Pitch rushed forward and raised a fist ready to strike at Jack as the painful memories overcame his waking eyes. Jack flinched back in the chair but held Pitch’s eyes, refusing to take back what he said.

            Pitch felt the pain from the memories rip through him. It had been so long since anyone had triggered the painful recollections of his past, which was one of the many reasons why he had never sought another’s company. His daughter’s voice echoed into nothing in his mind. _‘Why is it that the painful memories seem to remain with us the longest?_ ’ Pitch gazed at the defiant form of Frost hunched in the chair. His blue eyes shone with their determination. So different from the original brown he had seen in the memories.

            A thought crossed his mind _, ‘I don’t want to hurt him.’_ The fire in his eyes blazed hotly with a struggling defiance of willpower, but after only a brief flare up they cooled down. Pitch turned from him and gazed down at his empty chair gathering together the ends of his temper. When he had most of the strands in hand he turned and sat stiffly in his chair. “Sanderson… all the guardians, are enemies to me, just as I am to them.”

“If you think you can justify yourself in this account–”

            “I'm not justifying my actions. I have no wish nor a reason to do so. We are enemies. Always have been and always will be. Given the opportunity, the Guardians would have done the same to me. with much less fuss.”

“Do you think this moves me? That I could ever forgive such an action?”

            “I do not seek your forgiveness.” Pitch was silent, then, “and I don’t pretend to know what moves you. …I'm merely stating the facts. If you look at it without the haze of your connections you would see that my actions were just.” Pitch quickened his tone to cover Jack’s outrage. “Yes, just. We fight, it’s what we do. We wage war on each other when we meet. We all know the risks involved.”

“Then why?! Why such senseless waste of life–“

“Yes.”

Jack looked up at his pained expression.

            “Yes, why?”  Pitch's eyes were full  and focused on the flames in the fireplace. “Why such a, senseless waste of life? So precious,” His voice softened. “so precious.” Pitch's eyes cleared and he looked at Jack.

Jack thought they looked remarkably hollow, and very  old.

Pitch looked down pulling himself away the memories. He raised his head again to find Jack still watching him. “I took a risk in singling him out.”

Jack returned to the here and now as Pitch’s words tugged at his own curiosity.

“Sanderson has powers that he rarely displays in group settings. He flung you away from him in order to protect you from me, and himself.”

“That has no bearing on the fact that you killed him.”

“I disagree!”

            Jack was taken aback by the insistence in his voice.  “It has bearing. You don’t know them like I do. The joy they took in flinging such wanton aggression upon me in so sudden and unexpected a manner. But when I had the chance to fight back, that joy turned to frustration and anger, and thus to hatred.”

“This doesn’t–”

            “You can hate me for taking him away, but know this. I didn’t start this fight. They came to me to wage war based on their own beliefs.” Pitch propped his chin up on his hand and looked at Jack with a steady gaze. “Doesn’t quite seem fair does it? A sneak attack with four against one?”

Jack was silent. “I don’t understand why you are telling me this.”

            “No you don’t. You don’t understand at all.” Pitch didn’t mean for the aggression to be so pronounced in his voice, he took a moment to reign in his temper. “I am telling you this because Sanderson, would have done the same given the chance.”

“Your words mend nothing. Imagine us, his family, the pain you have put us through,”

            “Do you think the pain would be any different, if I had mine? Do you think because I don’t go spouting off about my enemies, and the wronged they have committed, that I feel less?” His voice tinged with disgust “Just like them”, Pitch's eyes raked over Jack’s body. Remembering how hungrily his hands had held that skin, how much strength he had spent trying to hold him there, trying to deny that he wanted to hold him. “You are just like them. The guardians.” Pitch looked away for a few moments then gazed at the Frostling before him. “I believe you were to speak about your woes, and wrongs.”

“Pitch–”

            “Do not push this.” Pitch already regretted his words. “You seem to think you alone have an innate sense of equality, well, I have told you something of me, therefore you must tell me something of yourself.”

             Jack pulled back abruptly at the sudden change in topic. He wanted to sort through all that Pitch had said, but the look on Pitch's face told him plainly enough that there would be no more conversation on that point.

            “I  spent a long time alone. When the  guardians came to me. it was like I could suddenly see. I wasn’t alone. I knew them, and for once, they knew me, my name.” Jack took a steadying breath. “Sometimes I would pass by and they would wave to me. Those moments were my validation, my air, and water. It was everything that had enabled me to survive.

            He stopped as if just struck by a thought. “It’s strange actually that I didn’t even know you existed until North sent his yetis to toss me in a sack and throw me into a magic portal. My point,” he hurried on as Pitch rolled his eyes, “is that they could see me. You…” he looked at Pitch to see him watching the dying embers. “You had no one and what’s worse, the Guardian’s **were** there, but they couldn’t get to know you because they were too set in their beliefs. You were much more alone than I ever was. And for so much longer, I can’t imagine being that isolated.” _‘How did you do it?’_  

            Pitch propped his elbow on the arm of the chair and closed his eyes while leaning his suddenly heavy head on it, feeling remarkably weak. ‘ _How does this sprite manage to make me feel so pathetic?’_

            “I had never seen you and they have never talked to me about you before; never told me there was anyone else. After they tried to make me a Guardian, they-”

            Pitch's head shot up. “Wait a moment, they _tried_ to make you a Guardian? You mean to say you’re not?”

“No. I thought you knew?”

            Pitch shook his head “It seems I was mistaken.” He smiled  “I'll bet your refusal went over really well. I’m sure they tried to persuade you. How did you manage to convince them of your choice? Throw snowballs at them? Freeze their tongues to the roofs of their mouths?”

            Jack raised an eyebrow, more than a little annoyed. “You know, I may look like a teenager, but I’ve lived for over 300 years now; I’m not a child. So no, I didn’t throw snowballs or freeze body parts. I just said no.”

             “So when you refused my offer you did it with good reason?”

Jack couldn’t help the smile that snuck over his face, “What did you think? I said no purely out of spite?”

            Pitch ruthlessly stifled the happiness that exploded from the center of his chest when Jack smiled, and managed to carry his end of the conversation after only a slight pause.                    “…Truthfully, I had some hope that you had better reasons, but not much.” Pitch mused silently over Frost’s grown-up attitude. _‘I suppose he is more mature than I thought._ ’ But the acknowledgement only made the situation more bitter; knowing that Jack was fully able to stand equally by his side, yet unwilling to.

            Jack paused a moment to gather his previous train of thought. “I suppose the Guardian’s never told me about you because they wanted to protect me. Just like you, they viewed me as much younger than I am. After some time passed they began to understand me more.”

            An image of an alley way flashed across his mind, pain, hurt, fear, anger, it all had seemed to bleed out of him in that dark alley way. Jack pulled himself from his thoughts and continued.

            Pitch was studying him intently. _‘What was that brief flash of fear? It was old, a memory, but still somehow present.’_ He wanted to follow it to discover its explanation, but Jack was speaking again.

            “After I refused to become a Guardian, they did try to change my mind. They told me they needed help fighting an enemy.

Pitch raised one disbelieving eyebrow, “Aster said that he needed help?”

            “Well, no. He was the only one who didn’t agree. He actually fought against my acceptance. But North told me that the m- Jack paused. Pitch hated hearing about the man in the moon, and decided that it would be best to avoid that subject all together. “…told me that if they did not fight, the effects in the world would be devastating. They told me that the enemy must be defeated.” Jack felt a smaller smile hover over his mouth

Pitch’s own smile was grim with black humor, knowing exactly where this was going.

             ”The Bogeyman. The creature from the darkness; killing dreams, hope, wishes, and bringing terror and blighted imaginations into the world.”

Pitch nodded at the familair epithats. “But you still said no, why?”

            Jack looked at him with uncertainty. This was getting dangerously close to a conversation about the man in the moon. One of the last things he wanted to do was make Pitch angry. “I said no, because…” he looked up at Pitch.

Pitch could feel his fear rising. _‘What the hell for?’_  

            Jack opened his mouth again, but nothing came out. He cleared his throat and spoke delicately. “You recall what you said about not hurting me?”

Pitch's faced was a tinged with annoyance. “Yes.”

            “Not touching actually, you promised you wouldn’t touch me.”

Pitch rolled his eyes, “I promise, I promise. I'm not going to sign my name in blood, get on with it.”

            Jack breathed deeply for a moment then keeping eyes open for any signs of hostility, plunged ahead. “I said no because the man in the moon was the one who nominated me.”

Pitch felt his body tense. He stared at Jack, dark anger rushing through his veins. His eyes were large and very intent as they focused on Frost.

            Jack waited for a few quick moments before venturing forward. “He has ignored me for 300 years. And then all of a sudden he wanted me to be a Guardian? And he didn’t even have the guts to tell me himself. Let alone ask me.”

            Pitch felt his anger, and will to dominate his captive draining away as he realized more and more that Jack Frost was his own person. Had been since the day he had first laid eyes on him and his sister in the woods years ago. He had to fight off a sense of loss when he finally accepted that Frost would never completely yield to him. Or join with him. He buried his disappointment as far as he could.

            “I'll bet they were surprised you refused even after they told you of your …nominator.”

Jack nodded his head “They were relentlessly trying to convince me. They described you as this terrible person who wanted to destroy them and all the good things they stood for and protected.”

            A touch of defending anger entered his voice as his thoughts and opinions on the matter came pouring forth in a surge of freedom. “It felt right that I should believe them. They had guarded, and guided me. And considering where I am right now, I can’t say that they were wrong.”

Pitch shrugged refusing to be ashamed; not regretting any action he took that lead him to this place with Jack. But he wanted to go no further.

            “In the end it was my choice to fight against you. Not just for my memoires but to fight against the evil that lurked under children’s beds, and inside darkened closets. It seemed like my duty. It had seemed obvious the different paths you both followed. You were bad they were good, you had to be defeated, and they had to defeat you. No one was willing to-”

            “Just a-”

“-give the other person a chance. That much fear was insane and cruel but to have none at all is just as dangerous. Fear is supposed to keep children-”

            “Frost–”  

“-safe from unnecessary danger, but the fear you gave them was fear of the Guardian’s. That didn’t make them any safer Pitch, why couldn’t you see that? If you had just used a little moderation, we could have worked together! Maybe we still cou-”

            “Jackson!”

 Jack stopped his ramblings.

           Pitch stood and tossed him the tube of teeth. “Get out of here.”

He caught the gold tube in his hands.“What?”

            “Just leave.”

“ Wh-” he looked again at the golden tube in his hands then back to the dark man before him. “Pitch, I-”

            Pitch lashed out with his sand killing the fire, and casting the room into a dimmed blackness. “ **Stop** saying my name!!”

Jack stood ready to defend himself as Pitch’s anger filled the room.

            “Stop looking at me like you know me! Like you have any other emotion for me but hate and dislike.  I **despise** that look of kindliness on your face.” Pitch stood trembling as sand tumbled around him twisting with his aggravated emotions.

            Jack stood still, unsure if he was going to lunge at him or not. He had never seen him so controlled by his emotions.

            Pitch turned from him. “Get out.”

“I, I don’t know where to go.”

            Pitch felt his hands curl into fists as Jack’s words seemed to take on another meaning. Pitch slammed them down to his sides and walked to Jack. He gripped Jack’s shoulder with one hand. He looked at Jack’s ice blue eyes, and could instantly feel his fear with ease. He was uncertain what was going to happen to him, afraid that he would have to fight Pitch again to stay with the Guardian’s. But it was another fear that made Pitch reel with inner turmoil. It was slight, wouldn’t have been able to detect it if he wasn’t touching him. Jack Frost was afraid that he wouldn’t see him again, wouldn’t be able to talk with him.

_‘Why?’_

            Pitch looked away from Jack’s eyes and instead examined the far wall in the room. He wanted to rip the sprite apart, wanted to demand what gave him the right to think of him kindly. Part of him wanted to bind Jack Frost’s inexperienced body to a wide and yielding bed and never let him go. A smaller part of him wanted to bind Jack to himself. But Pitch knew it would never happen. Despite all his boasts and veiled threats to North, he knew now that Jack was entirely too loyal to leave the Guardian’s.  Pitch felt an unaccustomed heaviness settle in his limbs. His harsh grip softened into a purposeless weight. ‘ _Was this how he had felt, to be left with nothing?’_

            Jack looked at Pitch in silence, the weight of Pitch’s hand for once not being a threatening thing. He was glad to know it could happen.

Pitch cast his eyes to the ceiling refusing to look into Jack’s suddenly pleased expression.  “Don’t come back here.”

            The winter sprite opened his mouth, but Pitch cut him off. “One thing before you leave.”

Jack waited.

           “Given enough time……” Pitch paused and didn’t bother to struggle against himself for long. “Given enough time… Sanderson will come back.”  Then without looking onto Jack’s wide blue eyes, he pushes him backwards, and into a waiting portal.

            Jack reached for him, “Pitch?”  Darkness closed over him.

 

            Pitch looked back at the circle of black as it diminished and then disappeared altogether; He felt a strange sensation in his limbs, as if he was being pulled. He stepped back two paces in an attempt to distance himself from the unsettling feeling. But still, he wanted to go forward, had to actually fight the urge to follow him.    

_‘Should just kill him and be done with it.’_

He rebuffed the strange and vicious idea as if it was put in his head by a foreign entity. But he knew, before having such close interactions with Frost, that he would have followed that advice with ease.

            ‘ _But why not now?’_ Sand appeared beneath his fingertips as anger welled up in his body. The sand spun around him in tight circles scraping against his body. Pitch raised his arms and let the sand lash out against him, reveling in the pain as it scourged away the painful memories; old and new.

            Pitch felt his breath coming in pants. He could feel blood sliding down from more than a few cuts. “Enough!”  He threw his arms downward and the sand curled in on itself and seemed to disappear.

            Pitch focused on the pain, the physical sensations, and blocked everything out. He breathed in the clarity once then stood straight and looked around the room. Some of the furniture had a few cuts in them.  The mantel piece had a light abrasion, the floor had a few shallow cuts, the chair that Jack had occupied had a rather deeper gash on its arm. He scowled at them in annoyance and strode forward to inspect the unintended damage.

           Crunch.                                                             

             He looked down; beneath his foot was a picture frame with broken glass in it. He picked it up off the floor, turned it over and saw his daughter smiling at him through the cracked pieces.  He threw himself in the ripped chair holding the frame.

            He looked upon the smiling face of his daughter and gently held it as he gazes at her. Her face her smile her laugh her hugs all flood his mind, everything coated with an undercurrent of pain and anger.

            A slight tug pulled at his mind and he turned his attention to it, grateful for the distraction. He listened carefully to the nightmare as it spoke to him, and then stood up in disgust. He waved one hand in the air but then stopped and looked at it with a dawning realization, like a cornered animal would view a new and completely unexpected enemy, with apprehension and disbelief.

            His brow darkened, and he lowered his hand swiftly to his side.

He walked the length of the fireplace twice thinking furiously.“Damn it.”

            He quickly raised his hand and dematerialized a nightmare. He lowered himself into a chair and holds his face in his hands; _‘He’s gone now, I'll forget him and go back to my life, and my real purpose_. _I don’t ever want to see him again…’_ Pitch couldn’t even think the thought without feeling the lie jump up and strike him in the gut. A sad groan of unavoidable defeat slipped between his fingers.


	16. Betrayal

            An instant after the portal closed over him, Jack had found himself standing in the woods surrounding his own lake. He looked back but saw that nothing remained of the portal. He stared at the rotting bed frame that roofed the entrance to Pitch's home. He looked up into the same sky that he had been withheld from.  _So much for never letting me go.’_ Jack became slightly alarmed when he felt a little poke of disappointment. It was eerily quiet. He breaks his stare to look around and sees broken trees. He turned to his left and took a step back in mild alarm. Silently waiting there were about 100 nightmares, all standing quietly.

            “Jack!?” He turns to his right and sees North, Tooth and Bunny standing there with bruises and cuts and bits of black sand clinging to them.  He smiled ‘ _They came for me,’_ He took a step toward them “North, Tooth, Bunny,” He thought he would be filled with such relief to see them; he had thought he would run to them with open arms. But he held back, unsure of how they would react to his sudden appearance. He approached slowly as they stared amazed. Jack stopped five or so feet from them. “Where is Babytooth?”

            Jack felt his heart contract in fear and sorrow when no one answered. He looked to Tooth and saw her looking away towards the nightmares. Her eyes filled with hate.

            Jack felt his heart wrench in sorrow, _‘She was the only one left._ ’ His head bowed in grief he turned to look back over the nightmares. Suddenly, from the midst of the mass of black,  a plume of darkness appeared and a small squeaking was heard. A bluish-greenish dart seemed to rise up from the mass of glimmering black and jet towards them.

            “Babytooth!” Tooth exclaimed as the little fairy zoomed around her captain and then around Jack’s head before landing on her captains shoulder. Tooth was overjoyed; in fact everyone was; everyone except Jack.

            He turned to look back at the silent mass of black knowing that Pitch had released her, willingly released her, _‘Why would he do that?’_  He stood looking back at the nightmares, his mind in turmoil, unsure of what he should do.  He wanted to jump in the sleigh with his family and get far away from this place. He wanted to demand an explanation to Pitch's behavior.

            ‘ _This doesn’t change anything, this doesn’t mean Pitch has changed. But then why did he do it?’_ He thought again of the snow and chocolate that Pitch had given him. _‘He could be pretending to lure us into a trap.’_ An echo of Pitch's laughter sounded in his head. _‘He wasn’t faking then, there is nothing to gain by releasing her, so why– Damn it, I just don’t know what to believe any more!’_

His thoughts about the man who had held him hostage, who had abused him so thoroughly were in turmoil, refusing to settle down in their proper places. The man whom he had woken up next to with his body pressed so close to him, unwittingly fulfillling a life-long dream the man who had stepped down from his pedestal of pride and arrogance to apologize with chocolate. _‘I may think less harshly of him now, but it’s not like I trust him, It’s not like I have a sudden and intense desire to join with him and bring fear to the world… ‘_ but still a sense of unease lingered in his mind _, ‘Is it right to abandon him to a continuance of his years in solitude? Am I able to do it? Knowing that he feels as much as I?_ ’ Guilt began to worm its way into his mind. “Damn it, damn it all to hell!” He turned his back on the nightmares and walked past the other Guardian’s ignoring their amazed looks and questioning eyes. “Let’s go.” he said.

            “Jack!?”  He stopped and turned to look back at them. They were looking at him but they didn’t understand him. ‘ _They always had each other, always, but Pitch…Pitch and I...’_   Jack looked back to where the portal had dropped him. And just shook his head at them. “Let’s go.”

            The Guardian’s watched as Jack walked away from the would-be battle. Bunny turned back to gage the reactions of the nightmares.

            “Crickey!”

Tooth and North turned, all the nightmares had vanished.

            They turned to each other in confusion.“Come on, we’ll figure it out later.” Tooth beckoned and followed after Jack.

            The sleigh bells rang in the air as they flew across the sky. Jack sat curled up in the back of the sleigh, with his head resting against the side paneling. He thought about the remarkably short distance between his lake and the entrance to Pitch's lair _._   _'All this time,_ ’ he thought. _‘All this time and he was right below me. What would have happened if I had met him first?_ ’ 

            North wordlessly handed Bunny his great red coat, and Bunny wrapped it around Jack, receiving one brief smile of gratitude.

They flew through the skies.

 

            The sleigh pulled into the Pole some time later, the foursome got out. Before they could speak, Jack turned to the others “I know you all want an explanation but-”

Bunnymund was at the end of his tether. “Will you just shut up Frost? Are you alright? You’re not hurt or anything?”

            Without waiting for a verbal response, North laid a hand on Jack’s shoulder, turning him around to personally inspect him. “He seems alright…”

Jack pushed North’s hand away from him. “I know you want an explanation, but I would really like to sleep for about 12 years.” He turned to North. “Can I stay here?”

            “Of course you can” North led the way down a set of stairs and into the impromptu meeting room by the fire.

On the way through the meeting room, North snagged  a small package, about the size of a teacup and handed it to Jack.

            He looked up in confusion, ”Is this for me?”

North nodded while the others gathered closer together around them.

            Jack unwrapped the package and pulled out an extremely tightly folded bundle of dark blue cloth. He rubbed his thumb across the fabric and saw a small tag that read “Pull me”. Jack took hold of it and tugged slightly. Instantly, the cloth burst open revealing a  brand new hoodie. It was dark blue, much darker than his original. Cut into roughly the same shape, it had only slight modifications.  The front pocket had zippers on both sides.  The zipper had a small golden ring imbedded in the metal handle. Just like the other hoodie, this one had a dusting of frost stitched across its shoulders.

            “Bunny told us that your hoodie was taken by a nightmare. We decided to get you another one as soon as we had gotten to you.”

            Jack quickly tunneled his way out of North's giant overcoat and handed it back to the big man, then shimmied into the hoodie.  He admired its soft texture and perfect fit, thankful to have his chest covered again at last. “Thank you.”  Jack put the memory box into the front pocket and zipped both ends up securely. ‘ _There would be time for that later, right now I just want to sleep.’_  He flexed his right hand a few times thankful to be able to let go of the tube. He had been holding it resolutely ever since Pitch had tossed him out. _‘What could be the possible reasons for releasing me? After professing so violently of his determination to keep me. Why did he let me go?’_

“Jack,” Bunny began,

            “Please,” Jack asked as he held up his hand. “I'm very tired, I am only going to go through this once. In a few days we can go over all the details as much as you want, is that okay?”

            “Of course Jack, we wouldn’t insist if we didn’t think it was important.”

Jack looked around and plopped into one of the softer chairs while the others found their own seats. “I assume that Babytooth told you what happened in Antarctica? “

             They nodded as one.

“Okay. Pitch dropped us both to a stone chamber. He ridiculed me a bit, then left. After a few hours had passed the room started to get warm.”

             Jack could feel their eyes sharpen on his face.

“Then it got fucking hot. He just left me there, roasting. Then he threw me out into the snow.”

             Bunny sucked in a breath remembering how easily Jack suffered from sudden temperature differences. 

“Yeah, it wasn’t a sensation I would like to repeat.”

            “Go on.” North instructed gently.

            “He sent me to another cell, this one was much colder, and just left me there.  He came in the next day and taunted me some more, that’s when you showed up.”

Bunny broke in, “I’ve already told them about what happened, so you can skip that part for now, although well need to hear it in detail later.”

            Jack nodded. “After Bunny was sent away, Pitch dragged me back to the first cell and left me there. I don’t know how long I was there for, it was hard to think through all that heat. After a while I woke up to find myself in my second cell.”  

            Jack paused, he knew he was leaving a lot of stuff out, important things they would want to know about. But he just couldn’t tell them right now, it was too personal. He took a breath before he began again. “Over the rest of my time there, he periodically showed up suddenly and talked with me.”

Jack couldn’t help smiling as their expressions exactly matched what he had imagined them as. _‘What the fuck?’_

            Jack nodded, “At first it was mostly taunting, but by the end he had a civil tongue.”

It was through sheer will power that Jack was able to hold back his blush as memories of Pitch's tongue surfaced.

            “But how did you escape?”

“I didn’t escape, he let me go, well actually he practically kicked me out.”

            There was surprise in every face. “Just like that?”

“Yeah.”

            Tooth frowned. “What were you doing before he told you to go?”

“We were talking in front of his library and-”

            “Talking? Just talking with Pitch Black?” Tooth asked with condescension.

Jack had to fight the urge to hide his mild annoyance at her tone. _‘Nothing is going to change because of this. I can be as honest and open as I was before.’_

             “Yes. When somebody talks to me I always talk back. It’s still a novelty pleasure of mine to converse -OH! I forgot, he told me Sandy would come back.”

“What?”

              "He did, right before he kicked me out, he said that if we wait long enough, Sanderson would come back.”

The others all wore matching looks of pity. "Jack, Pitch was lying, there is no way to come back.”

               Jack was struck silent for moment. “No, he said he would! What reason could he have for lying about that?”

"He probably wanted to get you to trust him.  He made some comments to North and I about you.”

              “Like what?”

“He said that he would make you choose him over us. Would make you want to stay with him.”

             “I would never choose him over any of you.”

The Guardians smiled as one.  “What else did you talk about?”

            “He tried to convince me that you weren’t going to come back for me. He asked me if I trusted you.

Bunny cut in, “What else did he want to know? Did he ask about our strengths and weaknesses?”

            “No, he didn’t ask anything about that.” Jack fought against his discomfort and continued on, determined to be himself.  “He also wanted to know if I had suffered more than anyone else I had known.”

            North didn’t know what to make of such an odd question and glanced at his companions with inquiring eyes. They looked back at him just as puzzled. They all turned to look at Jack curiously and waited with interest as to what he would say.

            Jack could feel himself throwing up walls, wanting to hide the truth to forgo risking their displeasure. _‘But that is not who I want to be. I'm not going to let this change my relationship with them._ ’ He took a mental breath– “I told him that I had only heard of one other person who had suffered more…” he hesitated but was determined to be himself.  _‘I'm not going to let anything that happened change me.’_ Nevertheless fear was present in his mind as he considered the angry words that he would have to suffer through before he could get them to understand.

            He swallowed nervously. “Himself.”

Tooth’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What?”

            North was silent. Bunny however, was not.

His stunned disbelief was nearly as tangible as his anger. “Pitch Black? Pitch Black!? You feel sorry for Pitch Black!”

            “Yeah, I do.”

“How can you say that?!”

             “Quite easily,” Jack responded with no hesitancy. He thought back to the seemingly endless hours Pitch must have faced alone. His thoughts turned towards his own trial of never ending solitude. _‘How much it must have been magnified and lengthened…How much he must have suffered…no one would get away from that without scars. No one._

            The Guardian’s were appalled.

 “Pitch Black is evil, Jack, he hurts children! All he cares about is fulfilling his own selfish desires, he doesn’t feel anything but–”

            “He does feel.” Jack took in their twisted expressions. “He does feel. I’ve seen it, I’ve felt it.”

“Jack please explain this.”

            “He laughed. It wasn’t in derision, or with the intention to inflict pain. I can always tell when laughter is true and when it is forced.”

“What where the circumstances?”

             The first memory of Pitch's laughter came up, but he wasn’t ready to divulge that episode yet. He thought quickly. “I was in my second room, standing by a window. I turned around and saw him leaning up against the wall. I asked him what he was doing there, and he told me that he wanted to see how I would react, and that he had done it before, and then he laughed. He thought my expression was funny.” Jack explained further, “ I was annoyed that he was watching me, exasperated with my situation and a little bit creeped out. But it was a real laugh, there was no negative emotions involved. I would have sensed them.”

Jacks earnest face made them all feel uncomfortable.

“Pitch doesn’t feel like the rest of us. If you think about the way he chooses to live–”

            “You know nothing about him.”

The Guardians were silent then Bunny spoke.

“…You sound like Pitch.” His voice was full of anger.

            North spoke gently “Jack, did Pitch do anything to you?”

Jack shook his head “…No.”

            Bunny, Tooth and North exchanged glances. Tooth nodded once.

“Jack,” she began. “We don’t know how Pitch’s powers have…manifested since this huge up spike in strength.”

            They all looked incredibly uncomfortable.

Jack tilted his head, absolutely lost.

            Bunny took over, “You must understand, we care about you, and want to keep you safe, but we have obligations to the children of the world.”

            Jack was warmed by Bunnymund’s words but the apprehension in their voices made Jack uncertain. “What are you saying?”

North stepped forward silencing the others. “Jack, walk with me.”

            Jack glanced back between the other two Guardian’s and then stepped down from his chair to stand beside North, and they walked out a door away and into the toy shop.

Tooth and Bunny watch them go with growing uncertainty and apprehension.

            Jack and North walked through the gleaming halls. North startled him out of his thoughts.  “Even before you were chosen as a Guardian, I had this room prepared for you.” North pushed open a door and Jack walked through.

            “For me?”

He took in the light blue walls, the warm color of the furniture.

            There was a bed in the middle of the room with a chest at the bottom of it. Beyond the bed there was a long window seat that looked out upon the snow covered hills.  

            There was a tall cabinet which held different clothes,  Jack stood still and simply looked from each corner to the room to the next. Eyes seeing everything, North smiled uncomfortably.

            “This is your room for however long you want it.”

            He walked over to the bed and ran one hand along the light blue comforter. It was soft and inviting. Flashes of his interactions with Pitch grew behind his eyes. Sweat, sensations, sounds, came crowding in on his memories. He hastily removed his hand as he felt a little leap of anticipation in his belly. _'It's not real, it never would have worked out.'_ Even though, this room was sililaar to Pitch's, North had gone to the trouble of making him a room. He would not let bad memories taint the goodness of North's actions. “I don’t know what to say…thank you.”

            North nodded not used to Jack’s stillness. A strange look stole over his bearded face. “Do you like it?”

            Jack was dismayed by his uncertainty, and hastened to prove his enthusiasm. “ Of course I like it! A room of my own…“ his smile softened as his eyes shined quietly ‘ _Just like a real home’_

            Jack stepped to the window and peered outside at the snow, his thoughts swirling much like the flakes outside. He touched the cool window and then turned to North who was still staring at him. “What is it?”

“Sit down Jack.”

            North strode in front of him, his hands behind his back thinking.

            Jack felt a bitter sweetness steal over his mind as he watched North pace back and forth just like the Bogeyman. Jack smiled softly. ‘ _I didn’t think they would have anything in common.’_

            North meanwhile was trying to keep his resolve. They had all agreed on this, it was a step that had to be taken.

North turned to him. “Jack.”

            Jack waited.

“Jack, sometimes we must do things that we don’t want do.”

            Jack nodded uncertainly.

“I am afraid Jack, that you will no longer trust us, trust me, when I tell you.”

            Jack felt as if a spike of doubt had been hammered into his chest. His heart beat once than settled in an increased tempo, he resisted the urge to stand. “What is it?”

“I do not chop words well Jack so I shall tell you straight out. We are not certain you are yourself, as you should be- as you were.”

            Jack’s mouth formed the word but he couldn’t get it out _. ‘What?’_ He felt as if a bomb had gone off in his mind and everything was ringing.  

            “I need you to trust me, stay here for a few days. For a little while.” He amended. “We have to be sure Jack, it’s the only way.”

Jack struggled to find his voice floundering in a sea of confusion.

            He looked around his “room”  “Is this why you-”

“No! I've always wanted you to stay here and be part of our lives. But now I also want you to stay here for your own protection.”

            “Protection? From who? …From Pitch?”

“He is fixated with you Jack, you must see that.”

            Jack stood, his hands balled into angry fists. “He also threw me away, he doesn’t give a damn about me.” Jack paused as he remembered the chocolate Pitch gave him, the way he restrained himself in the library when they were talking, and most importantly the teeth that he had returned. Jack rose from his thoughts to see North avoiding his eyes.  “His fixation isn’t the only reason is it?” Jack asked, watching North carefully.

His face was passive, too clean of emotions.

            Jack thought about the Guardian’s words, _‘‘We don’t know how Pitch’s powers have…manifested since this huge spike in strength.’  ‘Sometimes we must do things that we don’t want do.’  ‘We are not certain you are you. Yourself, as you should be, as you were.’’_

            Jack spoke with dawning incredulity. “You are afraid of me?”

“I am afraid for you.”

            “But you are also afraid of me.” Jack insisted.

North nodded. “Yes. You are strong of heart, of mind and of body. If Pitch has the power to influence you this far, we are all in danger.”

            Jack ignored North’s comforting words. “You ask me to trust you, but you will not trust me.”

“I am sorry Jack, there is no other way.”                                                                                       

            “I am myself.” He insisted.                                                                                                   

North looked away sadly.                                                                                                               

            Jack stood angrily as their doubts cut at him. His voice had only the barest trace of a tremble when he spoke.  “Then I’ll just get out of your sight. You’ll never have to worry about me stabbing you in the back.”  

            “Jack, ”

“No! You’re feelings on this matter have been made abundantly clear. If you don’t want me here, then I won’t stay, Let me out.”

            “I can’t”

Shocked disbelief set its claws in Jack’s stomach. His voice was small and devastated; desperately reaching for anything that could save him from this unimaginable betrayal. “North?”

            North looked into Jack’s eyes willing him to understand. “This is a precaution we must take Jack. There are ways to ascertain the truth but it takes time.”

“How much time?”

           “I… don’t know.”

He looked around at the suddenly small room as he spoke, “I don’t want to stay here.”

            “I'm sorry Jack,

“But North!”

            “Think of it from our perspective. If you were being influenced by Pitch wouldn’t you want us to do as much as we could to save you?”

            “I'm not so weak, that he could make me do things I didn’t want to! I’ve changed, you know I have. I'm not like that anymore.” Jack stopped as he recalled how close he had come to succumbing to his power.  

He shook his head sadly, “I'm not doubting you, but Pitch. It has to be this way.” He walked to the door and closed it behind him.

            Jack stood silently biting his bottom lip harshly as it trembled, holding back disbelieving tears as he heard the distinct click of a key in a lock.

 

            North walked back towards the other Guardian’s with heavy and slow steps. He felt as if he had just imprisoned a bird that had only begun to experience the true joys of flight. He met the others in the common room.

            No one spoke as he entered and sat heavily in a high-backed chair by the fire. His left hand cradled his head as he breathed shallowly. Tooth fluttered over to him and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. North reached for it and held her delicate but strong hand in his own. Soon his breathing calmed and he sat back in the chair. He squeezed Tooth’s hand once, “Thanks.”

            She nodded and began fussing with her feathers.

Bunny hopped nearer, “How did he take it?”

             North shook his head, “He was just… just devastated.” He breathed in deeply then let it out forcibly. “But,” He placed his hands on his knees and leaned up against the high back of the chair. “What is done, is done, and needed to be done. We must focus on what we can do now. We should reopen our domains.”

            “Are you sure?”

            “Pitch is strong, we need all the help we can get. Opening our domains will allow for the free movement of magic and the spontaneous growth of it. We need to open them. Now that we have Jack safe here with us, there is no reason for Pitch to enter any of your domains. And here, we have our own defenses.” 

            “But what are we gonna to do about Jack?

North stood. “Remember back in the 1500’s when Pitch tried to get you to join?”

Bunny nodded.

            “Just like then, we were unsure of you, and had to devise a way to make certain…”

            Tooth could see where this was headed, “Jack can’t handle that! You can’t compare the side effects Bunny endured to the possible side effects for Jack. Bunny was made for wear and tear; he is literally made of stronger stuff.”

            North couldn’t explain any further without giving away Jack’s secrets. “I think we should try it, we can’t just leave him there, then we would be no better than Pitch.”

            Bunny looked down quickly to hide his face, but then back up as Tooth called out to him.

“Bunny,” Tooth turned towards him, “you were the one who suffered through the effects, what is your own opinion on the matter?”

            “I think,” Bunny spoke carefully “we should hold off for a bit before we do anything drastic. I agree that it is a possible solution, I also agree that Jack would probably come out beaten, bruised, and battered, but not broken. He would come out stronger, just as I did.” 

            Tooth looked between the two and could see that she was going to be overruled.

“Let us wait for a week or two, maybe Jack will decide to talk to us on his own.”

            The others nodded. “In the meantime we will get started making the serum.” North turned to the others, “But first we have to open the domains again.”

             They each nodded before heading off to their respective tasks.

 

            Jack wakes to a dimmed ceiling. “Will I ever be able to get close to the stars again?”

“A little patience mate,”

            “Wah!!!”  Jack flipped over and fell off the bed.

Bunny snorted and started laughing.

            Jack grabbed the side of the bed and heaved himself upward. “Aster!”

Bunnymund stopped laughing abruptly and watched Jack with suspicion.

            “Wait, Bunny, I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to call you that, it’s just, Pitch-”

“Damn it, I don’t want to hear that name from you!”

            “Bunny-”

“No!” He strode over to Jack and peered down into his face. Jack looked back trying not to blink.

            Bunny looked away from him. He  took out a boomerang and fingered the edge of it.

“What did he do to you?”

            Jack looked down, immensely glad Bunny had not looked him in the eye when he had asked. “I already told you, he put me in a sealed cave and decided to figure out what my boiling point was. Nothing else happened.”

            “I want to help you Jack so don’t lie to me, I could smell him all over you when you came out of that portal.”

Panic shot wildly through his mind before he was able to snatch it down. “Of course you did, I was down there for… how long was I gone for?”                                            

             Bunny did not fall for the bait, but spoke gently. “My nose is highly sensitive, Jack, I haven’t said anything to the others, but, I will if I don’t get the truth from you.”

            Shame rushed into Jack’s face in the form of a blush. He shoved past Bunny then stopped as he realized that he couldn’t actually go anywhere. His hands balled into fists. ‘ _Damn it all.’_

            “Frost,”

He grimaced, “Don’t, don’t call me by my last name.”

            “Jack,”

“Or better yet, don’t call out to me at all.”

            Bunny was alarmed. “Jack!”

He spoke coldly. “Get out of here Bunny. Before I _accidentally attack you_.” he added sarcastically.

            “Jack, mate, I'm sorry, but Pitch is-”

“Stop trying to fucking tell me who Pitch is and isn’t, I **know** who he is! Now get out of here.”

            Bunny felt his anger begin to take over. "How can you defend someone like him?! After everything he has done, all the damage and pain he has inflicted… How can you still defend him with such conviction?”

            “Did you hear nothing I said in when I told you what happened to me? He’s not the same anymore, he’s different; I know it. He can feel just the same as us–”

            “A sham. The only thing a creature like Pitch Black could feel, is cruelty and malice. Think Jack, we have known him far longer than you have, why can’t you trust our judgment on this?”

"Because your judgments are based on only part of him. You have never searched or believed in a different Pitch Black."

             “Actions speak louder than words, I don’t understand how you can defend him, even if he has changed, even if he has become likable, reasonable, even friendly, that can’t cancel out the past. Do you really think he has changed so much that he would reverse his whole way of life? He would never do that for anyone, he’s too selfish and egotistical to view the world from another’s point of view.”

            “You don’t know him at all,” Jack countered hotly, “Have you ever spoken with him beyond threats and insults? Have you ever spent time with him off the battlefield? Have you ever once tried to view him as more than an enemy? As a person who can be sad, happy, ashamed, apologetic? No. So you can’t form any opinion based on his personality because you don’t know it.”

             ”I don’t need to speak with him to know his personality. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Over and over again, countless examples of his unnecessary cruelness, his disregard for all life beyond his own, and his casual disdain for the feelings of others.”

            Jack gazed at Bunny with acceptance dawning behind his eyes “I'm telling you that he has changed. I’ve given you no reason to doubt me. Obviously my words aren’t reaching you at all. Feel free to leave here anytime.”

“I'm only trying–”

Jack turned to Bunny who shivered as the temperature in the room dropped some 30 degrees. “I may have become trapped in **another** prison but you will not be in it with me. Get. Out.”

            Bunny could sense his anger and the embarrassment _. ‘At least Jack is still himself, for now._ ’ He backtracked to the door and left.

            Jack wobbled on his suddenly unsteady legs, before falling back against the bed, exhausted, sad and incredibly angry _. ‘Great job calling Bunny by his first name. That was a good move…idiot.’_ He flopped back and squeezed his eyes closed as hurt began to register in his heart.   _‘I can’t believe they would do this to me_ _…’_

He lay back on his bed thinking about what he had said to Bunnny. _'It's true that they don't know him, but do I?'_ He thought for a moment, remembering the arms that wrapped around him, the soft and gentle voice, the possessiveness. It was everything he had wanted. _'I have to let it go, but damn it, I don't want to! I've waited so long-_

            A few hours later, Jack heard the scraping of a key and glanced over, _‘Maybe they changed their mind!’ H_ e stood eagerly  but was disappointed when the only one that came through the door was Phil the yeti. He was carrying a large plate of food. Jack turned from the hulking creature and after a few moments in which the plate was set down, felt a massive hand rest on his shoulder.

            Jack didn’t respond to Phil, he knew all that he wanted to say, _‘They are doing this for the best reasons, they care for you and want to keep you safe, it’s just a little while, surely this is better than where you were…’_ but was it better? Everything and much more than what was expected of Pitch Black, had been proven true. Everything he had believed about the Guardian’s had been proven false. _‘If this was what I was going to come home to…’_ he cringed at the expression. _‘Maybe I should have just stayed with Pitch._


	17. Answers

           The next day  Jack was perched on the sitting window as someone knocked on the door.

He sighed heavily. “Come in…”

            Toothina enters behind her and closes the door.

“Jack,” she calls softly walking closer she sits on the bed opposite to him.

            He turns to look at her. “What is it- TOOTH!”

            He jumped up and reached in his hoodie, his fingers closing around the tube gratefully. He held it out to her, he was overflowing with so much hope, that Bunny, all the way in the toyshop, felt a little frisson over his skin.  

            She glanced back from the tube in his hands to his shinning hopeful eyes. ‘ _Pitch has already seen these memories, if he was controlling Jack, there is no reason to not show him.’_ For this reason alone she was profoundly grateful, having to deny Jack his freedom was hard, but to take away the memories that he had so longed for would have been unbearably painful. Tooth held out her hand, a small smile on her face.

            He hands it to her, “How does it work? I mean I don’t care how it works,” He flushed when he realized how cold his words sounded. “I mean I _do_ care, but,” he huffs out angrily, “I want to see them right now!”

            Tooth put a hand on Jack’s shoulder, to steady him. “Calm down Jack, you are going to see right now. Sit,” She guided him to the bed and sat down across from him. She handed the tube back to Jack, with the diamond pattern face up. He held it and looked at her for further instructions.

            “Place your hand here,” She touched the diamonds with her fingertips. Jack hovered his fingertips over the diamonds. His hand trembled slightly, then his fingers curled inward as old doubts resurfaced. _‘What if my family weren’t good people? What if I wasn’t a good person?’_ “Maybe I would be better off not knowing.”

            Tooth placed a calming hand on his mop of white hair. “It just so happens Jack Frost that I have seen some of these memories.”

Jack looked up with slightly accusing eyes.

            She ruffled his head affectionately. “Pitch made me show him the memories. I’ve never tried to force a memory open before, the images were not all perfectly clear, and we were unable to see most of them except for the first few and most of the last. But I saw enough to know that they were good people. And so were you.” She lowered her hand back to her lap.

            _‘So he didn’t see all of them, good.’_ Jack felt relieved. He smiled in gratitude and carefully touched the diamonds and after a second his world shifted.

            Tooth watched in silence for ten or so minutes as Jack walked through his memories. Her attention sharpened on Jack as his body language changed. She saw the way his hands tightened on his jeans after awhile and then cupped her mouth as a tear rolled down his pale face.

            Jack saw himself playing with his family, he saw his mother telling him to be careful. He saw himself and a two other boy’s building a perfect sled ramp. He saw himself at a younger age with other children enjoying a snowball fight. He laughed when he saw how poor his aim was.

            He saw a young girl with waist length brown hair. He gasped, _‘It was the girl from the photograph! Why does Pitch have a picture of her? This must be…’_ His eyes roamed her face greedily _. ‘It’s my sister! It must be!’_ He saw himself stand between her and a group of older kids. He thought for a moment then his expression cleared as understanding came to him.  He was defending his sister from bullies.

             He saw himself being lead by his sister out onto the ice. His heart stopped when he saw the ice cracking beneath her feet. His heart pounded as he watched himself reach out for a stray stick. He gasped as he recognized his staff of old. He saw himself reach out and snag his sister about the waist and using the momentum flung her toward the thick ice of the pond. She smiled. He heard the ice crack beneath his feet, the fear as it bloomed on his sister’s face, and then darkness.  

            “Tooth…” Jack held the tube close as the memory ended in a flash of white. He looked down as tears rolled down his cheeks. “I wish I knew her name… my sister. My sister.” He looked up at tooth. “She was afraid for me, afraid I would get hurt. She cared for me… my sister.”

            Tooth was happy to see Jack happy.

            Jack found himself rambling on unable to stop the flow of words as his heart was overfilled with such happiness. “Pitch was demanding that I tell him about my sister. But I couldn’t tell him anything about my sister because I didn’t know I even had a sister. But I do, I have a sister!” He was ecstatic.

Tooth smiled at Jack’s exuberance.

             Some hours later Jack was watching his entire collection of memoires again. Tooth had long since left leaving him to his much deserved reunion. His favorite memory was the one where his mother was scolding him for stealing eggs. He could sense the determination he had been feeling. The drive to do whatever it took to keep his precious ones safe. They needed food so he had gone out and taken some from the people who had needed it least.

             In Jack’s mind both then and now, he was aware that he was stealing. He was also aware that he would do it again in a heartbeat if the situation called for it _. ‘Jackson Overland that is my real name… Jackson Overland. Jackson.’_

            Suddenly his eyes snapped open as he shot up in bed. _‘Pitch called me Jackson_.’ His eyes roved mindlessly as he recalled his interactions with Pitch at that time. _‘The only two people who have seen these memories besides myself are Tooth and Pitch. But Tooth told me that Pitch didn’t see all of them, in fact I'm sure she would have told me if Pitch had seen this… this is vital somehow, but why? '_ His breath caught as the answer came to him _. ‘If Pitch didn’t see this memory, but still knew to call me Jackson, this could only mean that he knew me before– when I was human… I suppose it’s not imp–‘_ His eyes widened as another thought struck him. His teeth ground together _. “My sister, that memory of her crying, she had such nightmares, was that because of Pitch!?!'_  Jack got to his feet in a rush. ”I'll kill him!!”

            He turned towards the door only to recal where he was. He sat back on the bed in anger. after a few minutes he calmed. _'Pitch freaked out when he saw her face. Why? She must have meant something to him. If it was a positive relationship, he wouldn't have given her nightmares. He must have had a bad relationship with her.'_ He felt his fingers tighten into a fist _. 'If he touched a single hair on her head...'_

He flopped back on the bed, as a frustrated sigh escaped between his lips. 'I don't know the truth of the matter, I'll wait for now and investigate the matter **thoroughly**.'

content with his decision, he let himself slip into sleep while uneasy visions of Pitch lurked in the shadows of his past life.                                                                   *********************************************************************************

            Pitch Black sat in a leather chair, darkness surrounding him. His thoughts were as black as the night around him. ‘ _Jack Frost.’_

It has been less than 48 hours and he couldn’t get the sprite out of his head.

 _'I wonder what North has said to him… Aster was definitely going to force a confrontation. He never could keep his emotions off his fuzzy face.’_ Pitch smiled to himself.

 _'The Guardians would never really hurt him…but if they think he is working with me… against them….’_ He felt a little shift in his heart. His eyes moved from left to right as if searching for the emotion that was eluding his tongue. _“Worry? Is that it? Am I worried? There’s no need, they would never kill him- How the hell did I jump from hurt to kill? -Not that it matters, they wouldn’t ever do something they couldn’t undo…’_

  “Damn it…” He grabbed the arm of the chairs intending to stand up, to go someplace, to do something, anything at this point, to remove Jack Frost from his mind.

            But what was the point? _‘No matter what I do, that winter sprite always crawls back into my head.’_

An image of Jack Frost crawling towards him on his hands and knees came to him and he brought his hand up to stroke his thumb across his lips.

 _‘Pitch- Pitch, please’_ Jack begged as he cupped Pitch’s face tenderly, while his other hand he lowered Pitch’s gray hand towards his shaft. His face looking up with imploring blue eyes.

            A shrill whinny broke him out of his most recent impromptu fantasy. He shook his head and collapsed back into the chair disgustedly.

Nightmares shift in the shadows surrounding the Nightmare king. Their eyes gleamed with little flickers of white hot lights.

            Pitch still couldn’t believe how much he had come to enjoy his body. _‘Why did I let him go? What had possessed me to do such a thing?’_ An image of Jack and his sister popped into Pitch’s head.  ‘ _That girl is not my daughter. She just looks …exactly,  like her._ ’ he hung his head in defeat.

            _‘If Frost had not been her brother, he would have gone beneath my notice.’_   He told himself. _‘Jack Frost…’_

A black shadow flew behind Pitch, and a breeze brushed against his bowed neck.

            Pitch leaped into the air and spun around “Frost!” He yelled out angrily.

No one was there. He sat down again after a moment of silence and suddenly thought, he could feel the beginnings of disappointment stirring within him. Pitch’s eyes were wide with shock. “Damn him!”

            Across the room a black horse was watching  Pitch intently. Intelligence, anger and hate shining through its white glowing eyes.

                                                           *******************************************************************************************

            The Guardian’s were congregated around the fire at the Pole, discussing Pitch and Jack, their situation and what they were going to do about it. Tooth, the least willing to inflict pain was feeling the most hesitant about their decision to hold Jack at the pole. 

            “Are we doing the right thing?” Babytooth sat glumly on her captain’s shoulder.

North and Bunny turned towards her but didn’t answer.

            “I think we can all agree that the last thing we want to do is hurt Jack.”

The others nodded. North replaced his cooling cup of cocoa on the gleaming round tabletop. “But to protect him, we must make sure, we must know that his defense of Pitch is not forced. There is no other way to make certain. Here we can make sure he is safe from Pitch and anything he might make him do.”

            Bunny added his opinion, “It’s the only way Toothina,” he took her hand and squeezed it once then moved back, closer to the fire.

Tooth looked away uncertainly from North and Bunny, “He seems just like himself.” She smiled. “He said the phrase ‘my sister’ 16 times.”

            “That does sound like him.”

“But we must endure this, Jack may hate us for a while, but I’d rather have him alive and hating us, than alive and being used by Pitch.”

            North nodded his agreement.

Tooth tried to calm her inner misgivings. The words of her friends gave her comfort, and strength to do so.

            “Tell me again, what exactly did Pitch see before he broke out of the memory trance?”

             Tooth began again patiently. “He saw Jack while he was human, and he saw his sister. Even though I don’t know the outcome of showing the memories to another I was still surprised by its effects. I’ve never felt such a tremor in the fabric of my trance, never felt such a strong emotional reaction from Pitch. When he saw her… I don’t even know how to begin to describe it. It was almost as if he was afraid? Can that even be?”  

            “The possibility of him fearing for the safety of someone besides himself, has always been regarded as an impossibility. But none of us really know what he was like before… when he was human. It could be that this girl was important to him, it’s no surprise that we should find remnants of our families in future generations, perhaps to Pitch, Jack’s sister carries the face of a treasured person. We can never know for sure…Tooth if you would,” North gestured for her to continue.

            “At first the images were clear, defined and easy to hear. There were a few paltry images of Jack and his family, his home and his lifestyle. Then Pitch saw Jack's sister for the first time. The images following, displayed distorted sound and quality. Nothing much could be distinguished. There was no way to interpret the significance of what we were seeing without input from Jack. It wasn’t until the last memory that Pitch calmed enough to see and hear clearly. Jack and his sister left out of a small house with skates over their shoulders. Then the scene shifted, they were both standing on the ice being very still. The ice beneath the girl’s feet was cracking. Jack reached down to the ice and picked up a branch that had fallen.”

            “His staff,” Bunny muttered.

            Tooth nodded, “He hooked his sister’s waist with it and then used his body weight as a fulcrum to fling her out onto the thicker ice….” After telling the story more than a few times Tooth was able to keep her voice steady and she continued easily.

            “She was safe on the ice now, and Jack was so relieved, but now he was standing on the thin ice, they both heard a deep sort of cracking sound.”

            North felt his heart clench. As much as he loved Jack and wanted him to obtain his memories, he did not wish for him to have a memory that showed exactly how his life had been ripped away.

            Tooth continued. “The ice was cracking beneath him, before he could do anything he was falling. The last thing we saw before Pitch broke through, was the moon shining brightly above the ice that had settled back on the surface of the water.” Tooth leaned back and crossed her legs. “After Pitch broke through, he sent me through a portal and stepped into another before I was even halfway gone.”

            “He must have gone straight to Jack after. Something in these memories has given Pitch some kind of control over him.”

            “It must be the girl, from the way Pitch reacted.”  

North nodded. “I agree, but who was she? Besides Jack’s sister? Why should Pitch give two straws about her?”

            Tooth gestured uselessly, “I don’t know what else I can tell you guys, I suppose I could show it to you the same way Pitch saw it, but I don’t think Jack wants to share much of himself with any of us right now. but someday I want you both to see it. Jack was so courageous and honorable. So dedicated to his family.”

            North crossed his big arms across his chest. “How can Pitch use this to his advantage over Jack?”

Silence reigned.

“Do you think we should give him his staff back?” Tooth asked as Babytooth nodded enthusiastically.

            “It could remind Jack what Pitch has done to him.” Bunny suggested.

 “It could also give Pitch more power to manipulate.” North countered.

            Tooth spoke decisively. “I think we should give him the staff.” She continued as North and Bunny looked up at her decisive tone. “This last month for Jack has been spiraling out of control. He was locked up by Pitch and now, even though our intentions are only for the best, Jack is being locked up here as well. I think we need to give him something that will establish our trust, and faith in him, as well as providing him with a piece of himself.”

            “But we must consider,” Bunny began, “if Pitch is controlling him…” He shook his head at the implications.  “We have seen the power Jack can wield. We must be cautious. What happens if Jack manages to get his staff repaired by himself? He could join Pitch and cause huge amounts of damage.”

            North broke in authoritatively “I believe the chances of Jack fixing his staff on his own are very remote. It would take a great deal of will power and an enormous amount of focus. He doesn’t have either right now, and won’t until he has managed to live past and assimilate to these new experiences of his past. You know what I mean,” He added when Tooth and Bunny smiled at his peculiar syntax.   _and I don't think anyone here really believes Jack would have gone over to Pitch.'_

            Bunny glanced at North. “Perhaps you are right.”

Tooth nodded encouragingly. “If anything bad happens, we will be here to help him.”

            Bunny nodded and they both turned to North as he spoke.

“Alright. Who’s going to take it to him?”

            Bunny shook his head, “Jack and I are not on very good speaking terms right now. How about Tooth?”

Tooth spoke quickly, “No.”

            Bunny and North were pulled up abruptly by her quick answer. “Why not? You showed him his memories, he trusts you the most.”

“Exactly. He already trust’s me. If we are to make this, confinement, as pleasant as possible, we must all be there to support him.”

            Babytooth flew up into the air to flutter between the Guardian’s and began pointing to herself excitedly.

Tooth smiled, “I think the staff would be a bit too big for you.”

            “Then North should take it to him.”

“Well I-”

            “ No, that won’t due either.”

North and Bunny turned to Tooth again.

            “North already has the closest tie to Jack. I'm afraid Bunny the one Jack needs the most right now is you.”

“Me?!”

            “Yes. Jack needs to feel connected to us, you are the furthest one from him. If you can establish a connection to Jack it will reaffirm the fact that we are his family. It will lessen the tie to Pitch when he compares our gentle and yielding affection to Pitch's dominating demands.”

Bunny could only frown silently as Tooth’s logic worked on him.

            “But Jack-”

“Tooth is right, I’ll go get staff pieces.”

            Bunny watched in annoyance as North walked out of the room. He turned towards Tooth “What am I supposed to say to him?”

            “The truth? I'm not sure Bunny, but you are the best choice for this job. You can bring Jack back to us.”

            North stepped back in to the room with the staff in his hands. He handed them to Bunny. “Just try to remind Jack that he has family here who cares for him. Point out the good things that we do, try not to focus on Pitch, he does that enough already.”

            Babytooth jumped up from her captain’s shoulder and fluttered over to land on Bunny's shoulder.

“Well it seems like you won’t be going it alone after all.” Tooth’s eyes reflected merriment.

            Bunny brightened considerably. “Don’t laugh, this little bugger will probably be the key to my transmission from outside of Jack’s door to the inside of it.” He turned to Babytooth and nodded once,  “Thanks.” _‘But still… Jack is not going to be happy to see me. I'm going to have to play this very carefully.’_

            Bunny felt highly unsure of himself. But he took the two pieces and walked towards Jack’s chambers. “If I'm not back by a couple of hours somebody is going to have to drag my mangled body out of there.”

            North and Tooth smiled and made a shooing gesture. Even Babytooth seemed to be chirping on his haste.

He rolled his eyes and headed for the door.


	18. Expectations

            Babytooth nestled herself into Bunny's fur on his shoulder. After Jack, Bunny was probably the next favorite among herself and her departed siblings. His fur was soft and warm; more animal than man.  It was no wonder that the little fairies approved of him.

            She eagerly awaited her meeting with Jack; having to repeatedly check the urge to fly ahead. Knowing that if she did, she would end up on the other side of Jack's door, with no way to get in. So she waited as patiently as she could, but did he really have to take so long?!

           She could feel him slowing down as they neared their destination and tugged at his fur impatiently.

           “I'm going, I'm going, I just need a moment to figure out my strategy.” Bunny turned down a hall and saw the door that led to Jack’s room. He stopped in his tracks. _‘What the blazes am I going to say to him? Pitch raped you Jack how can you not hate him? Pitch killed Sandy Jack why do you defend him? Pitch is a monster who cares nothing for the feelings of others, why do you defend him?’_ Bunny checked the urge to smack his paw to his head in frustration. _‘I’ve got to get another thought strategy going.’_

 _‘North suggested I focus on the good points. I can do that.’_ Bunny tried out a few openers: _‘We are your family Jack but... We care for you but…’_ each time he went beyond that he could hear himself forming cruel (but accurate) remarks about Pitch. Babytooth fluttered in front of him and tugged on his nose.

            “Aha!” Bunny grabbed Babytooth in a gentle three fingered fist. “You’ll get him to open the door and I'll just jump inside and **make** him talk to me.”

Babytooth had no idea why he was making such a fuss about this, but approved as Bunny finally approached the door.

            Bunny gently placed the broken staff pieces outside the door and then withdrew from his side pouch one of the three identical keys that North had handed to each of the Guardian’s. Keys that opened the lock on Jack’s door. He knocked on the dark wood confidently.

            Jack pulled himself up into a sitting position and out of his drowsy state. “Who is it?”

“It’s me -and Babytooth” Bunny added quickly.

            Jack paused before he could yell. He could hear Babytooth squeaking on the outside wanting to get in.

He sat up at the end of the bed, ”Come in.”  He grimaced slightly at the phrase, keenly aware that he had no power to really prevent anyone’s coming or going.

            Bunny opened the door and Babytooth came whizzing inside. She circled Jack’s head once then buried herself in his hands, squirming around to get his scent on her. She chirped a mile a minute, not caring that Jack didn’t understand a thing she was saying.

            He smiled despite his situation “I'm glad to see you too, I never did get the chance to thank you, for what you did on the mountain. You saved me.” _‘Even though the Guardian’s didn’t manage to get me out, you tried your best to help me.’_   “Thanks’.” He nodded his head once to her. She stood on her tiny feet in the center of his palm. She put her little arms in the air and did a little twirl before bowing low.

            Bunny smiled when he saw the obvious affection between them. He closed the door behind him.

Jack’s voice was cold “What do you think you are doing?”

            _‘And there goes the affection.’_ “We need to talk.”

“Do we?”

            Bunny ignored the scathing question, “Yes. We do.”

Jack gazed out the window, trying to block out Bunny's presence by focusing on Babytooth.

            She pushed through his hands and grabbed Jack’s face. His voice gentled, “What is it?”

She fluttered her wings and pulled him back towards Bunny and pointed at him, squeaking enthusiastically.

             Jack frowned. He made to pull away but Babytooth held on and scowled at him.

Jack rolled his eyes “Fine.” He crossed his arms and focused his attention on Bunny. “What do you want to say?”

            “Do you understand that we care for you?”

Jack was not expecting such a non confrontational approach. But despite all the anger he felt, the injustice of his imprisonment, he knew the answer to that question. “Yes.”

            Bunny took a step closer “But do you believe it? That we all feel for you, North, Tooth, and myself? Do you really understand that we would do much to keep you safe and happy?”

Jack was confused by his underlining of the obvious point “Yes, of course.”

            Bunny nodded. He reached outside of the door and grabbed the broken staff.

When Jack saw them he was astonished. “Where did you find that?” He reached for it but Bunny held up a paw, “Just a moment.”

            Jack looked up at him with confused eyes.

“I am going to give it to you, but I want you to know that this is a sign from all of us to you.”

            Jack’s confusion deepened.

“We want you to realize that we are giving you these pieces because we believe you are stronger than a mons- Pitch.”

            Jack could easily enough finish his sentence. ‘ _A monster like Pitch._ ’ But in order to keep the peace he didn’t acknowledge the mistake.

“It’s just that- Oh here.” He held out the staff bits, which Jack accepted eagerly but gingerly.

            He laid them on the bed and just gazed at them. The intense pain echoed in his mind and he unconsciously clenched his abs.

            Bunny could see the discomfort it was giving Jack, so he hurried on trying to distract him with his words.

“When Babytooth first came to us to tell us about your abduction, we acted like bloody fools.”

            Jack looked up in confusion.

            “We were about to grab a snow globe from North and go straight to  Pitch's lair to find you. Without any thought to strategy or tactics. But Tooth stopped us before we could go. She forced us to take the time to come up with a realistic plan to save you.”

            Bunny ignored Jack’s confused expression and continued “When we first came back after our defeat, it was North who took hold of the lead and focused our minds on what to do next. He made us be calm and we were able to devise another attack which, even though we didn’t get to follow through with, had a good chance of success.”

            “He made us regroup and because of this, we were a better team. I want you to realize that sometimes you have to trust someone else more than yourself. You have to know when to let go-and who to let go around.”

            Bunny stepped towards him and placed his paws on Jack’s shoulders. “You can let go with us, we will never hurt you the way Pitch did. No- Don’t” Bunny said as Jack moved to pull away. “I don’t mean to hurt you. I care for you, can’t you understand? None of us want to say goodbye. What can I do to convince you of this?”

            Jack was growing increasingly uncomfortable with Bunny's words. “You don’t need to do anything to convince me, I already believe it.”

“Do you? Are you sure? Because from where we’re standing, you are choosing Pitch over us.”

            Jack was appalled, “Bunny! Of course I'm not choosing Pitch over you! It’s just…” Jack trailed off into silence.

“Talk to me Jack, let me help you.” Bunny squeezed his shoulders once.  He lowered his voice and spoke softly, “Tell me what happened.”

            Jack was silent.

“You can trust us-”

            Jack broke away from Bunny's light hold, as hte memory of Pitch's strong hold stole through his mind. . “Can I?” He gestured around his room. “Can I trust you? Even if I told you everything that happened, every instant of my feelings, you would believe them to be coming from Pitch's mouth, and not my own. What is the purpose of speaking when you, all of you, have already decided against me?”

            Bunny was silent; he was floundering. He didn’t know what to say, suddenly he remembered what Tooth had said about how Jack trusted him the least and needed him the most right now. He thought about what he had asked Jack. _‘You can trust us’_ and Jack’s actual response _‘How can I trust you?’_

            Bunny changed his words, “You can trust me,”

            Jack felt his heart breaking as the truth came home to him as he spoke. “No I can’t. Not anymore. I want to!” Jack hurried to explain before Bunny could respond. “I want to so badly, but I can’t…”

            “You can’t trust me, but you can trust Pitch?  After all that he has done?”

Jack was silent. “It’s not that I trust Pitch more than you, but I expected nothing from him, and everything from the rest of you. He lived up to his expectations, but you…”

            Bunny was shocked, _'I had no idea, no idea he held us in such high regard..How callous my words must heave seemed!_ ' He looked up at Jack and couldn’t speak for several moments then, “I understand. I don’t know how to make it up to you, but,” he reached down and grabbed Jack’s staff. He put the two pieces in Jack’s hands. “I will tell you, that we would never hurt you like he did. I would never hurt you like he did.”

            Jack could feel shame welling up inside him. Bunny and the others have been the closest thing to a family that he had ever had. He wanted to tell Bunny the truth, but he was ashamed of his reactions to Pitch. He told himself over and over that it was his body’s natural response, it wasn’t his fault, but still he couldn’t shake the feeling of an unforgivable trespass he had committed.

            Bunny stepped away from Jack. “My own weapons have failed me before, but I could always make new ones. When broken the pain is immense but more so for those with pure innate powers.” Bunny continued as Jack’s questioning expression. “As far as weapons go, my power as well as North’s and Tooth’s mostly stem from our physical capabilities. I'm not talking about your good aim, or spryness, but the power you showed when Sandy was taken from us. Your true power is not something that you can achieve through repetition and practice. It is purely innate. Just like Sandy’s.” _'Just like Pitch's'_

            Jack looked up at him while he clenched his staff to his chest.

            “There is a reason why Sandy never had a tangible weapon to channel his power, mate. Your weapon, if you choose to keep it, will mend itself in time. with focus and willpower you could fix it but you must be careful. Innate powers are always more powerful than learned ones. If you choose to, you could force it from your body, just like Sandy’s whips, or any of his creations. It would be a painful process during the first attempts, but you would never feel the agony of your powers being broken again.”

Jack looked down at his staff.

            “Think carefully on this. There is no going back.”

“The staff must be important to you from your past life as it allowed you to save your sisters life.”

             Jack looked up. “How did you-”

“Tooth told us. Don’t be upset, this was necessary. She told us every memory that Pitch saw but nothing more.”

            Jack closed his mouth. But glowered at him anyways.

            “If you choose to let this staff go, it will not diminish your powers at all, but the use of the staff as a weapon will be gone forever, it will revert back to into two bits of wood. If you choose to hold on to it, you will forever be vulnerable to attacks from enemies.” _‘From Pitch.’_

Bunny walked to the door and opened it. “Think hard about your staff, the position of power you have, and the good that you can do in the world.”

            “Bunny-” Jack called to him.

“Think hard on it. This is something you must decide for yourself. I will only tell you that we care for you. I doubt very much that Pitch does. I doubt very much that he knows how.”

            Bunny stepped through and closed the door behind him he took two steps forward then leaned against the hallway walls and slid to the floor.

 

            Jack flopped down on his bed to stare mindlessly at the stone ceiling, Bunny's words playing in his head. _‘ “I will tell you that we care for you. I doubt very much that Pitch does. I doubt very much that he knows how.”” ’_  Jack curled up on his side _. ‘I wish Sandy was here to help me sleep.’_

Pitch's cold disregard for Sandy’s death left Jack feeling angry.

 _‘The guardians were devastated when Sandy was taken from them. but if Pitch was gone, there would be no one to feel sorry for him.’_ Jacks heart seemed heavy in his chest.

            Jack snagged one of the pillows on top of his bed and tucked it under his head. _‘Do they really view this pitched battle as worthwhile? Pitch called it senseless, if the Guardians feel the same, they why are they fighting?’ Because of Sandy? But that wouldn’t explain away all the years before Sandy’s death. Was it all really because they wouldn’t sit down with each other and talk?  ‘Why did they have to fight at all anyways?’_ _Pitch said the Guardians brought the fight to him._ _I wonder if that’s true…’_ He rolled off the bed and onto the his feet. He walked over to the window and sat down, leaning against the cool window panes.

His words came back to him.  ‘ “ _Your words mend nothing. Imagine us, his family, the pain you have put us through,” “Do you think the pain would be any different, if I had mine?” ‘_  

            He sighed heavily. _It was wrong of Pitch to kill Sandy. I know I should hat him for it, but everyone treats it as a normal thing. It was wrong of Pitch to kill Sandy, but…would it be wrong for Sandy to kill Pitch?_  He bit his lip in indecision.

He tucked up his legs on the seat and tilted his body towards the window pane.

            

            A few hours later Tooth made her way otwards jacks room and sees Bunny slumped against the wall.  "Well I was going to drag your mangled body from Jack's room, but it looks like he threw it out for me."

Bunny managed half smile, then was silent for a few moments. “Did you know it was going to be like that?”

“I had an inkling.”

            “I should hate you for it but I'm just too bloody grateful.”

“Where's Babytooth?”

            Bunny blinked then laughed, “You know I completely forgot she was with Jack.”

 Tooth walked up to the door.

             “Wait,” Bunny called, “I'm in no condition to see him now, give me a moment to get out of here.”

Tooth nodded and waited for Bunny to lope down the hallway. She turned to the door and after knocking went inside.

            Babytooth was nestled comfortably on Jack’s shoulder as he gazed out the window. “Tooth,” he acknowledged, unsure of the reason for her presence.

“I just came to get Babytooth, but I don’t think she will be leaving anytime soon.”

            “She can’t stay here.”

Babytooth shot up chirping indignantly.

            He held out his hand but Babytooth fluttered to the bed and sat her tiny feet down waiting impatiently for an explanation to his cold words.

“There’s no point in having the both of us locked up,” He turned to look at Tooth. “I’d rather she not be allowed in at all than be stuck in here until my innocence is realized.”

            Jack turned from Tooth’s strained face he held out his hand to Babytooth and she fluttered up and zigzagged into his palm. She was annoyed but, understanding

He held out his palm to Tooth.

            Tooth could see the sorrow Jack was feeling. She smiles “I'll see if we can have a door built for her.”

Jack looked up incredulously.  “Really?”

            Tooth nodded.

Babytooth flies over nuzzling her cheek then settles on her shoulder comfortably.

           “Thank's Tooth,”

She nodded again, then left, Closing the door securely behind her.

            Not even two hours later, Babytooth was opening and closing her new door with such enthusiasm and repetition that Jack decided to take a nap. He piled the many books that were spread out on his bed off to the floor and spread out in the bed. The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes were his staff pieces leaning up against the side of the bed.

A few hours later…

            Jack stretches as he rises from the soft bed. Babytooth was sleeping on one of the pillows that was hanging halfway off the bed. He chuckled inside, lifted his hands up in the air then slapped them down on the pillow causing Babytooth’s eyes to pop open as she flew up in the air. She quickly regained her balance and flew towards Jack.

            This is a game that he had invented with the fairies. However, Jack had never realized how much space he needed to win the game.

 Babytooth knew it and attacked with the confidence of an eagle cornering a frog in the desert.

            Jack leapt from the bed to the window seat and ran around the room laughing breathlessly as Babytooth dived him again and again tickling him behind his knees and under his chin.

            She chirped with her happy revenge. Jack was usually very hard to catch, but now, he couldn’t fly, and couldn’t even run very far, it was very foolish of him to initiate this game of tag in such cramped quarters. She knew that he was going to lose spectacularly.

Jack gasped from laughing so hard. “I give! I give!”

            Babytooth dived in one more time then landed on the bed preening as she walked in front of his eyes, boasting of her accomplishments and his inevitable downfall.

            “If I had my staff, this would not be such a one sided battle.”  Babytooth chirped her disagreement. “You’re right,” Babytooth paused mid boast “I don’t need my staff, I just need the wind and you would never be able to catch me.”

 Babytooth chirped defending her newfound prowess.

            “If we were outside…” Jack turned away from the window and flipped over on to his back. He looked up and tried to block out longing that filled his eyes. Babytooth clambered up Jack’s arm and nestled in the groove of his collarbone.

            “You believe me don’t ya Babytooth?”

She chirped once annoyed at his sorrowful tone.

            Jack smiled at her confidence. “At least somebody does… I wish I had a way to make the Guardian’s see, that I'm not some mindless puppet.” His eyes darkened, “I can’t stand being locked away like this.” He rose to his feet and Babytooth had to clutch onto the hair by his ears.

            Jack suddenly stopped and sat down on the edge of the bed. He placed his hands on the side of it and suddenly remembered the way Pitch had covered his pale hands with his own. The heat that seemed to emanate from his hands echoed in his mind as a slight shiver went down his back.“I can’t stand it…”

            Babytooth let go of Jack’s hair and fluttered into the air. She hated to see Jack in such turmoil. She glanced at the doorway then suddenly flew back to Jack chirping excitedly.

Jack looked up at her sudden unexplained exuberance.

            Babytooth pulled him towards the door,

“I can’t get out Babytooth, I can’t leave.”

            Babytooth held up her itty bitty hand and held her thumb and pointer fingers close together. Her eyebrow raised, and her chirping tone somehow persuading.

“Not even for a little bit, but even if I wanted to, I couldn’t, I don’t have the key.”

            Babytooth pointed to herself while chirping excitedly.

“No! If you got the key and let me out, they really would lock you up too!”

            Babytooth looked over her shoulder then began chirping quietly trying to explain to Jack that it would build trust for the others to see him coming and going without anything bad happening.

            Jack was trying hard to understand her, most of the time he made out their intent fairly well but, after all he didn’t speak fairy and couldn’t quite catch the meaning.

           Babytooth however suffered no such dilemmas. Her captain and all of her siblings as well as herself could speak every single language in the world. She folded her hands across her tiny chest and thought of how best to convey her meaning.

            Jack looked out the window longingly. _‘Bunny said, that my powers would come back. If- if I could just get out for a few moments…_ ’ his heart leapt at the prospect, he hadn’t been with the wind for nearly a month now, he thought incredulously. ‘ _If I could get out for just an hour, or two…_ ’ he looked down at Babytooth uncertainly. He didn’t know what would happen to her if they were caught; would she be accused of the same crime as he was?

“Is there a way to get in and out unseen?”

            Babytooth nodded her head hesitatingly

“You don’t seem sure…”

            Babytooth zoomed over to her little doorway and went out of it. She closed the door behind her then after a moment came back in and nodded her head enthusiastically. Then she opened the door and pointed outside and shook her head.

            Jack’s shoulders slumped in unhappiness, “So we could get in but not out…”

Babytooth flew back up to his face and grabbed his nose in frustration, shaking her head at him.

            Jack tried to reinterpret her actions. “We can get in easier than we can get out?”

 Babytooth twirled in happiness and planted a teeny-tiny kiss on the end of Jack’s nose.

            “Are you sure we won’t get caught? Really sure?”

Babytooth nodded eagerly.

            Jack bit his lip then glanced outside to see snowflakes blow in the wind. “Okay.”

The next couple of days Babytooth and Jack were busily perfecting their plans of escape.

            She remembered the time Jack and herself had brought Sophie back from the Warren and was determined to have Jack’s solemn oath that he would go when their time was up. No matter what.

            After much chirping and frustration his promise was given readily.

            She managed to draw an outline of a snow globe on the ground with the seeds from a strawberry. She mimed placing a snow globe amongst Jack’s food, then a yeti would bring it to him. Once Jack had the snow globe, they would magic themselves out of the Pole in the middle of the night and play in the snow for a while then sneak back in while everyone was sleeping.

“Won’t the yetis be on guard?”

            Babytooth nodded her head confidently. She placed her left hand on Jack’s chest then her right on her own. Next she put her left hand behind her right and moved them as one through the air, miming the term follow or guide.

            Jack nodded in understanding. She would guide him around the sentries. “How will we get back inside the room when we come back? We still don’t have a key.”

            Babytooth sat up and pointed again to the same snow globe.

“I thought it could only be used once?”

            She hesitated then fluttered up in the air as she considered.

“There are specifics to it?”

            She nodded absentmindedly as she thought about how to convey the rules to Jack. She popped one tiny fist in the palm of her other hand as inspiration struck. She pointed to the snow globe then mimed picking it up she stepped five paces away and nodded her head. Then she flew back to the image of the snow globe and picked it up again this time she walked ten paces and shook her head no.

            Jack watched her carefully”… So… it only works a certain distance?” She nodded again after a short pause,

“But there’s more” Jack asked. She nodded enthusiastically again.

            Jack tried again to review all of her information correctly.  “We need a single globe to take us out and back in.  We need to know how far can we go.” Babytooth nodded once more as she settled back down.

            Jack felt his heart sink. “You don’t know how far we can go do you?”

She shook her head glumly.

            Jack looked around his cell and sighed. As much as he knew the Guardian’s meant well, as much as he knew they cared about him, he did not want to stay here unless he choose to do it.

            He turned to Babytooth, “Even if we take the globe too far I might  be able to fly us back here fairly quickly, if I can reconnect with the wind. But it's still worth it.”

Babytooth considered for a short while then nodded.

            She looked up at Jack and he looked down at her his eyes were growing in determination, obliterating the guilt he felt at leaving against the Guardian’s direct desires. _‘I am tired of being locked up. I can’t stand it,’_ he told himself, _‘I just need a few moments to breathe in the night air._ ’ “Tomorrow?”

She nodded once.

            Jack was excited, to finally be going outside, even if it was only for a brief hour, even if he had to sneak out to do it, even if he had to lie to the Guardians. He furrowed his brow. _‘It’s ridiculous it’s my life…’_. He banished the guilt that tried to form in his mind.


	19. The Breakaway

            The next day Babytooth left through her little door on her mission to initiate the first part of their plan.

All Jack could do was anxiously wait for lunch to be served, hoping that one of the yetis would bring it to him. Never in his whole life was he so glad to not see the Guardians!

            As the noon bell was struck a familiar slow knock was heard. Jack’s heart leapt into his throat. He didn’t hear Babytooth but before he could contemplate the meaning of her absence, the door was opened. He schooled his features into one of annoyed compliance. He made himself turn from the platter of food so as to not give any suspicion by his increased interest.

            As soon as the yeti left, Jack leapt for the platter. It was piled high with sandwiches, fruits, nuts and berries, off to the side there was a small bowl cleverly crafted to hold five distinct sections. Each was filled with a small type of nut or seed. For a week or so this had become a regular addition to Jack’s plate. But Babytooth, for whom the dish was intended, was nowhere to be seen.

             Jack looked over the platter carefully but no globe was in sight, suddenly he heard a familiar chirping noise, he looked up to see Babytooth fluttering over to him.                

            She bowed proudly before him gesturing to the platter.

Jack glanced back at it,

            Babytooth’s eyes glittered with mischievousness. She delicately fluttered up into the air and with her nose sticking straight up and her little eyelids closed, landed delicately on top of a watermelon.

She chirped encouragingly as Jack reached for it.

            She hopped down as Jack picked it up in his hand, _‘It’s a lot lighter than I thought it would be…’_

            Jack held the fruit in his hand, as he examined it. He saw a faint line running around the middle of the melon, he grasped both ends and twisted- it slid easily, the two halves coming apart smoothly. He pried them apart and looked at his left hand in which resided half of the watermelon as well as a _snow globe_ , that had been secreted away in between the two red halves!

            Jack was staggered “Babytooth! Where were you when I was hiding Bunny’s painting supplies?”

She chirped happily and then fluttered up to Jack’s knee and sat upon it.

“Tonight?”

 She chirped her affirmative.

            Jack’s eyes softened, “I can’t tell you how much this means to me,” Jack told her. “The fact that you alone seem to be the only one who believes me was enough but this just makes me feel like myself again. Thank you.”

Babytooth laid a gentle hand on his knee.

            Jack quickly moved to reassure her silent warning. “The instant our hour and a half is up well go back, snow globe or no snow globe. I swear it.”

The next ten hours were torturous for Jack. As each minute dripped passed him he felt the urgency of his departure more keenly than ever before. 

            Babytooth insisted on going over the plan once more and Jack willingly obliged her. Anything to help pass the time.

Finally nighttime was closing in.

            Jack looked over at the closet where the globe was stashed. Babytooth had told him, in her own way, that if he held on to the globe there was a good chance of him accidently sending himself somewhere. So he had been forbidden to hold it until they were ready to leave. 

            Jack could hear the clock strike ten times. He glanced at Babytooth who sat serenely waiting for the extra half hour that they had agreed upon.

            The minutes dragged by so slowly… Jack closed his eyes asking for patience and instead got a dream.

            After the allotted time had passed, Babytooth stood, and flew over to Jack. She landed on his chest and laughed when she saw that he had fallen asleep. All that fuss and then he takes a nap! She hopped up to his cheek and squished his cheeks together while chirping softly.

            Jack's eyes snapped open. He leapt out of bed and finally caught sight of Babytooth as she fluttered over to his shoulder. She nodded towards the dresser and Jack threw open the doors. Babytooth pulled his hair angrily when the doors slammed against the nearby wall.

            Jack was instantly contrite. _‘Babytooth was risking a lot to give me this window of freedom the least I could do is try to keep our mission a secret.’_

            He gently pulled the globe out of the closet and held it against his chest. His freedom was close at hand.

 He held it up to his eyes and with a trembling voice murmured “Siberia,” they waited with baited breath as the seconds seemed to lengthen out indefinitely.

            But nothing happened.

Jack was filled with dismay. “Why isn’t it working?”

            Babytooth fluttered down and inspected the globe. Suddenly she looked back at Jack and then smacked her tiny hand against her forehead.

            Jack looked at her in confusion. Babytooth immediately began to launch into an explanation about why it didn’t work. Then she realized that Jack of course would have no idea what she was saying.

            The fact of the matter is that North and the other Guardian’s were so fixated on keeping Jack safe that they made his room into a temporary island of isolation, no magic was allowed to pass into his room and no magic was allowed to pass through it.  Babytooth had not planned for such extreme measures.

            Jack felt his hope drain away and was replaced by anger. He wanted to hurl the glass globe against the stone wall but Babytooth quickly shimmied up his arm and squeaking quickly told him to wait by holding up one finger. She fluttered up in the air and then turned back to him and held out both of her tiny hands in the universal sign of “stay.”

            Jack fell back on the bed as bitter disappointment crashed through his system. After a round of serious moping Jack hauled himself up from the bed and placed the globe back in its hiding place in the closet.

            He dragged himself back to the soft bed and collapsed against it, his feet hanging off the end dejectedly. Some hours later Jack opened his eyes to see Babytooth holding on to a large brass key. His mouth dropped open, “Babytooth! Where did you get that? How did you get it? Are you crazy?! If the Guardian’s find out about this they’ll lock you up for sure! You crazy  reckless wonderful creature!!!” He scooped her up and dance silently around the room with her in his hands.

            Suddenly she zoomed out of his fingertips and headed for the door, Jack ran back and scooped up the globe then crept to the door and waited while Babytooth flew out her tiny door. He waited barely breathing as she fumbled the large key and tried to slide it into the lock.

            A quick chirp was heard before an ear rattling clang rang throughout the empty hallway as the key was dropped on the hard stone floor. He cringed and listened with all his might for any sound of approaching footsteps. A few moments pass by them silently, then a few more and Babytooth finally begins to move. She dives down from the shadow of her door and scoops up the key, her tiny hands wrapped around them tightly.

She nestles the key into the lock and slowly turns it.

            Jack feels a bead of sweat roll down his face. He wanted to slam the door open and run for the exit. But he waits.

            Suddenly the lock clicked open. Jack took his first hesitating steps beyond his doorway, hating the feeling of wrongness that his mind was giving him. Babytooth floated up and then perched on his shoulder without making a single sound.  After locking the door behind him,  Jack removed the key from the lock, and held it in his hand. ‘ _Where to put it…_ ’ He didn’t want to carry it on his person as he intended to use his brief moments of freedom to spin endless circles in the wind tossed air.

            He couldn’t repress the glee in his heart at his escape. But it was considerably dampened by the fact that he really was escaping- fleeing from the Guardian’s, his companions! How had it come to this? It was in hard to justify the actions of something he hated, to assuage the percieved guilt of those that he loved, but he tried. ‘ _The Guardian’s actions are based on their perceived best judgment for my safety. Is this treatment comparable to that of Pitch's? Not at all.'_ Jack clutched the key and then slid it carefully just under the eve of the doorway.

He stood up and held the globe up to his eye once more.

            Suddenly Babytooth felt movement in the hallway, she rose from her perch and fluttered down to Jack’s nose. She kissed his nose affectionately before she  zoomed forward. “You’re not coming? How will I keep track of the time?”

She shook her head silently. He dipped his head in gratitude. “Thank you for your trust.” Jack parted his lips to speak his destination-

“Jack!”

Jack whipped around, Bunnymund and Tooth were standing not thirty feet from him.

            The thought of the open sky, seemed to be snatched from him, but he grit his teeth in determination. Jack was shaky but determined to see this through. _‘I’ve had enough locked doors.’_    “I can’t stay here any longer….” Jack took a step back, they came at him.

            He threw the globe and even before the white swirling vortex could completely form, he was running towards it, not thinking about anything but his own freedom.

Bunny and Tooth leap forward but the portal closes before they could catch up.

            Babytooth had snuck back to the door and carefully picked up the key from under the door and ran it back to its original hiding place. Then zoomed back to one of the her many sleeping perches to wait for the day when her captain would come for her seeking answers. 

 

            When the swirling vortex halted Jack found himself in the Warren. He looked around in surprise. _‘How did I get here?’_  His toes nestled in the soft green grass with a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm as he considered the reasons. ‘ _I didn't have time to state a destination. Perhaps the globe just took me to the last place it had been to?’_ Looking back on it, Jack thought that this was not a horrible thing to happen. He could get anywhere from within the Warren. _‘And when the Guardians follow me here, they won’t be able to tell which way I’ve gone.’_   Disquiet settled heavily on his mind as he realized that he was actually running away from them. He shook it off as best he could and immediately set out for the diverging tunnels.

             Jack strode forward through deep green glades dotted with trees and thought how much more pleasant it was than Pitch's barren landscape. He paused suddenly in mid step and thought ‘ _That’s the second time I’ve thought of him in 24 hours. Why does he keep popping up? He doesn’t want me to think about him that’s been made clear.’_ He didn’t know how important it was that he felt a slight drop in happiness, but there it was. Perhaps it was because there were only four people who could see him _, ‘It’s like a quarter of the population doesn’t give a damn about me.’_

             He continued on and soon enough came to the top of the grassy bowl. He looked down and could see the seven distinct tunnels. As much as it pained him to leave the Guardians, his family really, he couldn’t suppress the thrill of excitement when he reveled in his freedom. ‘ _Where should I go?’_ He glanced eagerly at each tunnel trying to figure out the best hiding place _.  ‘Nowhere to obvious,’_   He mentally crossed off the tunnel with the symbol of Antarctica over it. _‘I need to go somewhere they won’t look for me. Or if they did, wouldn’t be able to find me. Someplace warm, and crowded.’_ He walked down the grassy slope as he considered. _‘Either Africa or south America….’_ He tapped his toe against the grass and then on a whim turned towards the African tunnel.

            He walked into the opening of the tunnel, and passed through tan stone walls until about twelve or so feet then he paused. In front of him the light faded and blurred into a monotonous black. He looked behind and saw the end of the tunnel and the light drenched grassy slope beyond it.  He felt a pang of loss but refused to go back until the others acknowledged that he was in his right state of mind. He peeled his eyes away from the tunnel entrance, griped his broken staff, and turned back to the darkness with determination.

            He moved steadily forward and was soon enveloped by blackness. After a few quiet moments he stepped out of an old cave that had been carved by the elements into a mountain. His bare feet touched gritty sand, he looked up at the huge pinpricked sky and breathed deeply.

            His eyes were wide open as he clutched his broken staff tightly, “Wind?”

            A breeze blew against his shoulders before wrapping itself around him lovingly, Jack bowed his head in happiness. He leapt into the air and flew up into the night sky. “Faster!” He commanded giddily.

            The wind snatched him upward; he reached his hands out as if he were to grasp the stars. He flew up high into the air and then launched himself up higher when the wind began to reach up too high through the atmosphere.

            He flew upwards and then arched his back as he began his long descent back to earth.

He pelted down towards the ground. The golden hue of Africa appeared before him. “Wind!”

            He felt himself supported and directed as the wind fancied. He twirled in the sky like a cyclone, spinning faster and faster until he was launched outward and allowed to free fall through the sky.

            Jack was laughing madly, then a bird flew by him and seemed to warn him back to his senses. _‘I’ve got to be careful,’_ he thought. _‘The Guardian’s would be looking for me. In fact this was a foolish thing to do.’_  

            He called silently to the wind and flew back to the earth. He landed behind some garbage bins and peered around carefully, looking for any random flowers sticking up out of the ground; any quiet silver jingling bells, or green iridescent  feathers.

            The night air was filled with drums, lutes and happy voices; there were flashing colors, orange, yellow, red and brown of every shade, in every pattern.

            Jack skipped up two parallel buildings and then landed lightly on the roof. He approached the edge of the roof and plopped down on it with his legs hanging over the side. Ignoring the people converging on the street, he examined the two staff pieces again and thought about Bunny's words. Was there really only two options? _‘I either keep the staff or not._ ’  The desire to keep it was strong, he had saved his sisters life with it, without it she would have died, he probably would never have been chosen to be a Guardian. It was the only tangible thing he had from his human life.  But to forgo that kind of dependence was extremely appealing. _‘I would never have to worry about it, would never have to experience that sort of agony again.’_

            He stood up _‘But… I want to keep it.'_ He walked along the roofs edge feeling unsettled. _‘But what is the point when it is so useless to me?’_ Jack paused then shook his head _, ‘No. Even if it wasn’t my weapon, if it was just a bauble that had a tie to my sister, to my family, I would still keep it. I will keep it, even if it never works again, even if I never get it back in one piece.’_

            He jumped off the roof and across the alleyway and onto the next roof.

He forced himself to settle down and watched the stars fade out of existence as the night diminished into dawn.


	20. Call for Help

            The next day Jack woke to a warmth on his body. He opened his eyes and squinted against the late morning sun.  _‘Idiot child,’_   He berated himself as he rose from the rooftop groaning like a ghoul. He stood and stretched out his cramped back. _‘The same thing happened the last time you slept of the roof, hopefully you’ll learn your lesson this time.’_

            He patted the golden tube inside his new hoodie and began exploring his new and temporary hiding place. After observing the populace for a few moments he entered an empty storeroom.  He didn’t want anyone to freak out because something was moving on its own _. ‘It wouldn’t do to start a panic.’_ Inside the storeroom he found just what he was looking for. A stone jug full of cold water.

            Jack pried the lid off and stole a few mouthfuls, before securing the heavy lid back to the roof of the jug.  He walked back outside and froze. A woman was staring at him. Jack gripped his staff tighter as his heart beat furiously in hopefulness. He waved his free hand in the air to test her vision. She screamed while pointing towards him.

            Jack whirled around looking behind him for danger, but nothing was there. She screamed again as he moved, he turned back and saw the woman was now causing a crowd to gather due to her hysterics.

            Jack looked around at all the people who were staring at him _. ‘What the hell!’_ Some of the older people were making strange gestures across their chests and over their eyes. Jack took a step towards them and they all shifted back, prayers and chants began to rise from them. ‘ _Damn it they can see me, but now they’re afraid of me?!_ ’

            He threw his broken staff on the ground in disgust. His attention was caught  when the people shifted back again, all eyes on the ground watching his staff.

            _‘...What the hell is happening?’_ He looked down from his staff to the people, then an idea struck him. He leaned down and picked up the staff. He heard the gasps from the crowds. He felt a small wave of hope that was quickly overshadowed by a cloud of disappointment. ‘ _They can see my staff, but not me…’_ His eyes narrowed in concentration. _‘Why?_

            Because the staff was no longer a channel for his power? Had it converted back into simple pieces of wood? _‘No wonder the people here freaked. All they can see is two pieces of wood moving around by themselves. But that does not mean that, they are afraid of_ me _…’_ Unwilling to leave his staff behind Jack knew that he had to leave, find someplace more remote. Much more remote.

            Jack straightened his spine and holding his broken staff to his chest launched into the air. He flew up and out into the desert far away from the people with fearful faces and apprehensive eyes. He spent long hours searching for any type of sanctuary. Flying too high to be seen from teh ground , yet as far away as possible from the sun; constantly strugling  against the heat the sun was inflicting on him. The wind moaned around him strangely. Jack was too distraught to pay close attention to it. If he had he might have realized that something was wrong. Might have realized that his ally was trying to warn him.  

            He flew far out into the undulating sea of gold. He closed his eyes and drifted. The sun had begun it descent to the horizon, when Jack finally spotted a small oasis. He dropped from the sky and landed on the outer most edge of the lush green. He walked around the perimeter once and satisfied that no humans were there, approached and entered the green sanctuary.

            Jack found a shaded stone that overlooked a wide but shallow pool of water. He sat upon it and dangled his feet morosely. Dusk seemed to come on rapidly as Jack turned his thoughts more and more to what he has lost.

 “People are afraid of me and my staff, the Guardian’s don’t trust me, even Pitch doesn’t want me _,”  ‘Maybe I should just waste away here.’_ He sees the moon begin it’s nightly ascent.

            He looked harshly at its reflection in the still water before staring in confusion at its original in the sky. “Why did you do this to me!? Why couldn’t you have just let me die that day? I would have been happy with that much! But you decided to make me suffer. Why? Do you enjoy it?” The moon was silent and this only goaded Jack further against him.  “The Guardians had not suffered such pain, If I was meant to be one, why did I alone merit such painful trials?” ‘ _Why must anyone suffer such pain.’_   “Why?”

The moon rose silently over head.

            He thought of Pitch's long solitary walk through the years.  He felt his heart skip a beat as he thought, _‘That might have been me…’_ He felt something squeeze his heart as the possibility of such a long and bleak future appeared before him. The loss of his comrades left him particularly open to such a possibility. _‘That might still be me.’_

            Jack turns away from the moon and leans back against the rock looking up at the stars. The glittering pinpoints seem to reassure him and he manages to find some measure of calm within himself.  After a while he stands and leaving the pool walks back to the palm trees, and leaned against one of the larger ones. He held his staff, one in each hand against his chest as he dozed fitfully.               

                                                                                          ******************************************************************************              

             Bunny sat low in a chair close to the fireplace at the pole, quietly contemplating the look of fear and determination on Jack’s face. He felt wrong. Inside and out. Nothing was the way it was supposed to be. Jack was running from them. they were supposed to chase after him, _‘to lock him back up?’_

             He put both paws on his head and pulled them over and down his ears in aggravation, before bolting to his feet in a rush, immediately gathering the other Guardians attention.   

            “Everything is balls up, were acting like a bunch of bloody claytons! It’s a complete cock up-Jack being swayed by Pitch? Codswallop! We used ta be a fair dinkum family, but now look at the fix were in! We need ta make tracks after that bloke and square off going twenty to the dozen, or all of us could be up the creek without a paddle!

 North waved a hand in the air trying to halt Bunny's verbal torrent. “Bunny-Bunny, speak English, we don’t know your outback lingo”

              Tooth didn’t say anything. when bunny went into these tangents he was frustrated and usually angry (and barring one occasion considerably intoxicated,) In these situations it was best not to laugh. She had always found it difficult to hold back when a slew of such strange words came streaming out of Bunny's mouth. His face was so serious but the words just seemed nonsensical.  He could go for whole minutes yelling at you, or just explaining the events of a day without letting anyone know what the hell he was talking about.

             Bunny huffed out in annoyance, and held his tongue in check.  “Then I'll be succinct. No one here believes that Jack has actually gone over to Pitch. Are we agreed?

             North and Tooth exchanged guilty glances, and nodded as one.

“Right.” Bunny squatted on his long legs before his companions. “what we need to do now, is contact Jack without alarming him into fleeing.”

 “It won’t be easy now,”

             Bunny nodded. “we can’t approach him in groups, that is sure to send him running. We need to talk to him one on one, it doesn’t matter who, but we must get a hold of him before Pitch does.”

Pitch doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore, remember what Jack said?”

            “I do. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that Pitch gave up because Jack would never leave us. But now we have left him, If Pitch hears about this, he WILL take advantage of it.”

 The three of them exchanged dark looks.

           Bunny stood to his full height. “We need to find him immediately.”

 Tooth and North rose from their chairs. 

            “We need away to stay in contact. We need to get Jack to a safe place, before Pitch can snag him.

"But how? He won’t trust us after what happened?” Tooth asked.

             “I don't know,” bunny put a paw against his chin as he thought.

“It may be,” North began, “that the most we can do right now, is apologize and put him on guard against Pitch's deception.”

             “Son of a bitch!”

“Bunny!” Tooth exclaimed in shock.

            “This is all Pitch's fault. He was the one who lured Jack away with those blasted memories, He was the one who took Jack, he was the reason why we had to lock him up, he is the reason why Jack no longer trusts us. He is the reason why we can’t even get close enough to Jack to protect him!”

Bunny stamped his considerably heavy foot on the ground. “I feel so useless! How can we help him in this situation!?”

            “We can do all that we can.”  North pulled out various snow globes from his numerous pockets. “We can provide Jack with the best protection we have.” He passed out the globes to Bunny and Tooth. “And when we can rebuild the trust that has been damaged. “

“We can go after Pitch.”

“Don’t be rash.”

“Why not!? Pitch is the source of all the pain that Jack is feeling right now, why should we not directly attack the source?”

            “Because we have little chance of victory. If we had even half a chance at victory, I would follow you into battle, but the fact is we don’t. We need time to refocus and more importantly regroup."

            North started towards the door, gesturing over his shoulder for the others to follow. “We need Jack on our side, ever since we decided to hold him here, we have been off balance.” North shook his head. “We should have listened to our instincts more.”

             He stopped outside the door and turned to his fellow guardians. “Jack is wiser than he acts, he will return to us. We can hasten that moment by reaching out to him. We will divide the globe between us and search. Tooth- the Americas’ Bunny- Australia, Africa, and Asia I will take the two poles. Use the globes only if you find Jack, if one goes off we will all be alerted.  If we find him, and we may not, we must not use any force. North met everyone s eyes. “let’s move.”

                                                                                        ************************************************************************

            The night before Jack had been unable to fall completely asleep; so churned up with confusion and hurt. His mind would not let him rest from the pursuit of any answer to his situation. He wakes to a wet sort of heat that had coated his skin in a sticky layer. “Wind,” He calls out. “Wind?” He hisses in pain as his pink tinged skin twinged with pain. _‘Why is it so still?’_ ‘ _Perhaps this is just the calm before the storm…._ ’ “Wind!” his throat felt scratchy from all the heat yesterday.  His thoughts turned towards the little pool and he made up his mind to go to it.

            He grimaced as the pain in his body increased. He saw the sun and estimated that the path he needed to take to get to the pond would be mostly shaded in four or five hours. After a few moments deliberation he decided to wait a bit longer. As much as he wanted something to drink, he wanted his body out of the harsh sunlight to heal itself.

            But it wasn’t just the light that Jack had to combat, it was the heat that invaded every cell in his body, pushing him towrds immobility. Relentlessly attacking him physically and mentally.

The minutes drag by slowly and Jack succumbs to sleep.

            A few hours later he awoke and deemed it late enough in the day to make an attempt on the pool. He grit his teeth and sat up against the tree. He places his staff pieces on the ground next to the trunk of the tree. He manages to keep mostly to the shadows and gained the pool without a large amount of unexpected trouble.

            Jack bent down and slurped up the faintly muddy water. He let his hands sit in the slightly muddy water paddling them absentmindedly, loving the feel of it on his hands and wrists. He spilled the warm water over his arms and face. He looked down in the water and saw his reflection rippling in the disturbed water then looked over beyond the overhanging branches to gaze at the shimmering heat across the opposite end of the pond. The sun glared hotly on his squinted eyes as the sun glinted against the water.  Suddenly he heard a light rustling above him.  “Wind!” He twisted to look above him as he called out hopefully, forcing the sound from his aching throat, but instead of an answering grip of air, he saw a small lizard leap from one branch to another. He turns away bitterly disappointed and turned back towards the tree line.

            “Fuck!” He gazes in anger at the once mostly shadowed path of shelter which had morphed into a sun lit path of torture. ‘ _How could this possible be? I wasn’t down there for very long… was I?’_

            He gritted his teeth and stood on his feet. ‘ _I just have to make it back to the tree.’_ He steps into the hot sunlight and grimaces holding onto his voice as the heat beats at him thrumming in his blood. Each successive beat of his heart was like another pounding of a drum in his head. The drum beat louder, tilting him off balance.

            But he stubbornly took one step after another, moving from shadow to shadow as they appeared. Each new shadow that he could fit his whole body into was a welcome sight, offering a relief, however slight, from the merciless glare of the late afternoon sun. He moved into the next shadow with gratitude. ‘ _I wonder if Pitch feels this same way?’_ Jack chuckled inside at the thought _‘I could sure use one of his portals right about now.’_ he thought as he remembered the way Pitch’s shadowy portals surrounded him with coolness _._ Suddenly he recalled the cool black sheets that Pitch had brought him to after the “throne job” got too uncomfortable for him.

            Jack blushed slightly and was glad that no one else knew he was going to get a set of those sheets. No matter what he was never going to let Pitch find out. He could picture Pitch’s arrogant smirk and condescending tone. _‘I had no idea you had grown so attached to them Frost, If I had been aware of it, I would have lengthened your acquaintance with them.’_ Jack rolled his eyes at “Pitch’s” words, but still, they had been so cool, so silky and chilled. His mind inevitably took him back to what he was doing on those same sheets and he blushed profusely.

             He felt a little bump in his heart beat.

He froze, even in the full glare of the sun, he couldn’t move. _‘It’s not possible.’_ His heart rate quickened.

            The sensations involved with touching Pitch, with Pitch touching him, his heart beat a second higher rate. _‘It’s false isn’t it?_ _It’s just, my body, it’s a natural thing,’_ He reasoned as he tried to pull himself together from this unexpected mortal blow. _’He cast me aside, after all his profusions of ownership, he just dropped me. I'm not dissapointed,'_   He told himself as he felt a poke of what might have been regret. _‘It’s only natural that I want that feeling of...'_ Jack paused as he felt a little leap in his belly as his body recalled the way his breath had caught as he climaxed.  _'It's only natural that my body responds that way when he- anyone touches me…like that_.  _It's only natural... It’s not like I have any feelings for Pitch Black, it’s not like he could have any for me…'_ A moment later though, Jack had to take back his words. Having recalled when Pitch had apologized to him for his words when he had offered Jack a life on the leash for his true compliance, he had to admit that Pitch was capable of feeling. No matter how much he wanted to keep it a secret. _‘I’ve got to remember that Pitch feels more than he lets on.’_

If anything this mental note only served to increase Jack’s unease. Knowing that Pitch was perfectly capable of emotions and still unwilling to abide his company forced Jack to reevaluate and reassimilate Pitch's utter disregard for him. He had to admit that even if it was Pitch Black, it still hurt to be so utterly unwanted. He was able to admit that he had always wanted to hear and believe in words that laid claim to him, even if it was Pitch Black- was able to aknowledge, at least to himself, that every possessive, covetous, territorial word Pitch had spoken, was everything he had ever wanted to hear.

 _'I'ts not real, Pitch may have more feelings than he first lets on, but that that was not a reason to forgive him his past actions.'Although…. It may illuminate the reasons why Pitch had done the things he has. Perhaps we have been too hard on him. If we had tried to understand him m- Wait a minute, what the hell am I thinking? Pitch Black?’_ Jack began to huff out in annoyance, but coughed painfully on his dry throat.  He wiped his brow with fatigue and continued forward.

            Finally, he saw his tree and the staff pieces beside them. He sighed with relief, the end was in sight at last.

            He placed a hand against a nearby tree to support himself as he made his way back. Finally he was able to lean back with against his tree. He picked up his staff and held it against his chest, relishing the marginally cooler shade as heat radiated away from him. He closed his eyes for a few moments.

He sat quietly, the only thoughts able to form were about the temperature and how uneasy he was becoming _._ Ever since the alleyway on that dark night, the idea of his death had always seemed remote, he had always thought that he would just continue to exist. Then Sandy had died and he knew that there was a way to really to it. To be free of the chains that bound him year after year, decade after decade to his solitary fate. _’ If I had known it back then…’_  through all the heat he felt a cold shiver crawl up his spine.

 

            The sun climbs higher in the sky as Jack falls in and out of a fitful sleep. He wakes to see the sun blistering overhead. He took a moment to adjust to the bright light, while his main goal for the day was summed up in a single word and repeated in his heat drenched mind. _‘Water.’_ He put out his hand and ran it along the ground searching for his staff pieces, ‘ _There’s one,’_ He thought as he curled his fingers around it gratefully. He nudged it closer against his side then reached out for the top half. ‘ _Where the hell…’_ he opened his eyes and turned to face his right side, his breath caught in his throat.

            Without thinking, he quickly sat up ignoring the urge to cry out through the pain. He twisted and turned over and swept his head back and forth looking for his staff. It only took a moment for the truth to sink in. _‘It’s gone-’_ he sat back against the tree. Unconsciously he began to press back into it, ‘ _It’s gone, where could it be?’_ He felt like the world was closing in around him. Now he wouldn’t even have the option of choosing to keep his staff. Panic seemed to crawl up his arms. ‘ _Calm down. Think,’_ he looked around again, to the left, to the right and clutched his arms tighter around his heated body, ‘ _Think. I know I had it last night… I’ve got to find it.’_ He pressed back against the tree and staggered to his feet. ‘ _I’ve got to find it!’._ His legs trembled beneath him. He grit his teeth as he commanded his legs to hold him. _‘Get up.’_

            He clutched at the rough tree bark for support but it wasn’t enough. He fell back against it, flipping over as his back scraped against it painfully. He lay in the sand as a fresh round of sweat, brought on by the sudden and intense pain, popped out on his brow.  Desperately he held in the urge to yell as the cuts caused by the rigid tree bark stung painfully.

 _‘Damn it,’_ his hands clenched the dry sand beneath him. His head feels heavy and the world began to twist sideways. Jack closed his eyes hoping for some sort of clear focus to descend upon him. But none came. Hours pass by him unnoticed, he was grateful to every decrease in temperature that occurred as the night deepened. The thought of escape, of rescue, of water, nothing overcame his need to find the staff. Jack decided to rest both his mind and body until the coldest part of night arrived. It was no use expending the mental and physical exertion when the results would provide him with nothing.  He closed his eyes and slept away the next six or so hours.

            When he awoke he carefully climbed to his knees. After much exertion he managed to crawl around the tree trunk to search for his staff. He grit his teeth and had to hold back from wiping his drenched brow. It was a useless expenditure of precious and dwindling energy. ‘ _This is exactly what Bunny was talking about,_ ’ he thought as he placed one hand in front of the other. ‘ _This is the danger of keeping my staff as my power._ ’ He recalled when the wind had carried him so gleefully in to the sky not even… how long has it been? A couple days, more? Maybe even a week…

 _‘The lack of wind is my problem, it imprisons me here.’_ He curled his fist on the ground as anger forms within his heart. _‘Even the wind has abandoned me,’_

He felt the heat through his back, the blood already dry against the inside of his hoodie. He clutched his remaining half of staff and wondered how it was that it came to this. ‘ _I would have been better off with the Guardians they would never have killed me. I would have been better off with even Pitch, he would never have…’_ Jack broke off his train of thought.

            He returned back to his search focusing for once on the heat rather than his own thoughts. Anything to wash away that last idea. _‘Pitch Black… would he make me suffer so? Or would he save me? Would he even care?’_

            _‘It doesn’t matter.’_ He manages to stand as the world spins before him. ‘ _I'm not letting it go my one tangible connection to my past. I'm not letting it go,’_  The world gets hazy _‘I'm not going, to let, it…go,_ ’ he collapses and falls to the ground in a crumpled heap, the pain in his body was dull but pervasive.

 

Jack wakes again to painful delirium, his first thoughts of his missing staff. He curled his hand around the remaining one half.  A new fear of pain seemed to settle into his limbs. _’ I don’t have the strength to search for it anymore. Am I really just going to burn away here indefinitely?’_ He didn’t expect the Guardian’s would think to look for him here, _‘And even if they were, would I want them to find me? Wouldn’t they just lock me up again more securely than ever before?_ His resolve came to him swiftly and forcibly. _‘No, I don’t want that. But what other options were there?’_

Unbidden an image of Pitch formed in his mind and he couldn’t stop a strange idea from forming _. ‘Maybe if Pitch were here he would help me. He wouldn’t try to lock me up again, which is more than I could say for my other choice.’_ Jack became hopeful for a moment or two as the desert sun climbed higher in the sky. ‘ _If he appeared right now, I’d even take all of his sarcastic comments and swear an oath of never entering a desert again.’_   But Jack knows he would never come, why would Pitch Black save him? Sure there were times when he had showed compassion and even caring but… it is not to be trusted. Right? He shook his head at his own foolishly hopeful thoughts. But a small ray of hope persisted _‘If I did… try to contact him…It would have to be after dark…’_

Jack tried to focus on his options. _‘I need to get out of here, I’ve no way to contact the Guardian’s but I do have a way to contact Pitch. I don’t have any other choice_ ,’ He argued with himself _. ‘The worst he could do is leave me here to die. And that’s happening anyways.’_ He huffed out uncertainty. _‘There is nothing to it but to do it. It’s not hard, I’ve just got to be afraid._ He looked around him, the never ending gold sand peeked at him through the slim brown trunks of the palm trees silently promising the continuance and amplification of tortures to come.

            The blue cloudless sky and the sun seemed to promise an early start on that vow as the scorching yellow blaze just began to peek over the trees _‘That’s not going to be difficult.’_   But he knew by now he was just stalling. _‘Not hard.’_   He reminded himself. 

            He thought of Pitch and the countless times he  had stood over him in a threatening way; the numerous occasions of Pitch's physical abuse. Strangely enough these didn’t seem to inspire as much fear as he thought. _‘I couldn’t possibly be desensitized to it already. Perhaps because I have had an actual conversation with him, that I know him a little bit, perhaps that’s why I'm not afraid of him… as much._ The thought that it was because he actually enjoyed the sensations that Pitch gave him, was quickly dismissed before he could listen to clearly for any bells ringing of truth. _‘If I'm not afraid of him, for whatever reason, then what am I afraid of?’_

 _‘Pitch Black’_ his mind responded again.

             An image of Pitch formed in his mind. but the fear was not colossal and overpowering. _‘I'm, I'm not afraid of him? What else is there to be afraid of if not the Bogeyman?’_ A new memory of cold water closing over his head held him immobile as a wave of fear weighed him down. A second image of his sister on the ice formed, he imagined her falling through struggling as he did for life, with no one there to save her, his heart clenched painfully in his chest. _‘Losing the people I care about, that’s what I am afraid of.’_

            The smiling faces of North, Bunnymund and Tooth blossomed in his mind. filling up the entire vision. But then, a shade of darker hues seemed to grow from the side, an image of Pitch laughing appeared.

            _‘Pitch Black is not a loved one of mine.’_ He told himself firmly as the strange image appeared. _‘I feel pity for him, not affection. What must it have been like to be so completely alone, isolated from any sort of mature conversation?  While I complain of the paltry 300 years, he has suffered far more than I. It’s not right that anyone should be so alone,’_ He thought of the moons cold complete silence, _‘-that he should be so alone.’_ Jack thought of the Guardian’s _, ‘They never really needed me, they always had each other…’_

He ws too exhausted to stop the shape of his feelings. _‘Pitch has always been alone.’_ He recalled how he had desperately wished and hoped and begged for a savior to rescue him. _‘I would have given anything to escape from that…’_ He paused for a moment as a new determination built up inside of him, disregarding all his internal warnings.

 _'I swear if I get out of this I'll…’_ What? _‘It’s not like I can go back and see him whenever I want to. I can’t be with the Guardian’s and be friendly with Pitch Black at the same time. No way…..right?’_

He thought for a moment more _. ‘The five of us, including Sandy, all had specific jobs to do, specific roles to play, in order to protect children.  Pitch’s role is to give out nightmares, to give out fear. But fear is just another tool used to keep children safe.'_ An incredulous thought occurred to him _. ‘Could Pitch be a Guardian himself?’_

            Jack shook his head, _’Even if this were true, the Guardians would never believe it.’_ He imagined himself coming and going from Pitch's domain as he pleased. Then he thought of the Guardian’s reactions. _‘Yeah, that would go over **real** well.’_

He thought for a few moments more then gave up. _‘I'll figure out something, I can’t just let this anguish continue anymore.’_ Jack leaned up against a nearby tree in order to stay as far out of the sunlight as he could and tried to focus on his main problem. How to escape this hellhole of heat. but he knew there was only one real option left to him.

            The darkness of another night closed over him, and the sky was lit by an enormous number of stars he wetted his lips. “Pitch” he whispered softly into the darkness. “Pitch?” He called uncertainly.

            No answer, just the callous moon.  He tried a little louder forcing his voice through his dry throat and cracking tongue. _‘What if he doesn’t hear me? What if he never comes?’_ “Pitch?”

Silence _._ Jack felt his anger rise _. ‘If I find out that he’s ignoring me…’_

            Jack watched a few of the stars peek through the sudden haze that surrounded his mind. _‘If I don’t get out of here soon, I won’t have the strength to even call out for help, I’ll just be baked here, burning in pain unable to save myself. I need to get out now while I still can.’_  He swallowed a couple times trying to ease the pain in his throat. “Pitc-” He closed his eyes as the pain in his throat rose to a screeching peak. _‘No more talking aloud…’_ Jack breathed shallowly hoping the less dry air that go into his throat the less painful it would be. He swallowed the saliva in his mouth and just lay there in the shade.

            Jack opened his eyes and saw the sun had moved further up into the sky. ‘ _Damn it! I must have fallen asleep.’_

            He quickly reorganized his mind and began calling out to Pitch as the sun beat down relentlessly _. ‘I’ve got to think only about the things that scare me.’_ He brought all the horrible things that have happened to him. The first time he realized that no one could see or hear him, the first day in the dessert when North had saved him. The night in the alleyway when North had saved him again. The feeling of his staff being broken, the image of Pitch looming over him. _‘This isn’t working,’_ he began to panic _.  ‘I need to call him with more than words, I’ve got to feel it so he can feel it.’_ He tried to immerse himself in the danger of his predicament. ‘ _I need to get out tonight. At once!’_

He quickly shuffled through his thoughts, _‘Drowning, losing the ones I care about,’_ he tried to convey his fear outward but nothing appeared, no portals, no Pitch, not even that pewter bucket full of water. _‘It isn’t enough… what if he never comes? What if he doesn’t want to, and just decided to leave me here knowing what agonies I am suffering?’_ Jack felt his fear race higher, _‘Pitch is more alone than I ever was. If he still chooses solitude over my company, what must that say about his opinion of my character, my very worth?_ Jack was momentarily overcome with familiar sadness,  ‘ _I must truly be worth little if Pitch Black doesn’t want me. He shoved me away didn’t he? No, that s not right… He wants to be alone, because he thinks that he is alone.’_ It was strange seeing that familiar emotion form a different point of view.

Jack cringed at the memory of how painful that thought could be _. ‘He needs to know that he doesn’t have to be alone.  The Guardian’s will never talk with him, I am the only one who can tell him, who is willing to even speak with him civilly. I am the only one who can relieve that ache, just as the Guardian’s relieved mine, I can help you Pitch, but not if you don’t COME HERE!’_  

            Silence filled his ears as the motionless leaves hung down above him.  He tried to focus his mind by examining the leaves but his eyelids felt so heavy; the world kept blinking on and off into darkness.

            Jack felt his mind sinking into despair. ‘ _Pitch, I’ve got to tell you, got to tell you… come here…’_ and then he closed his eyes against the pain, and sunk gratefully into a fitful sleep.


	21. Restraints

            Pitch sat low in his chair by the fire. His dark pants discarded at his feet. His golden eyes were mindlessly following the flames as they danced across the fire grate. _‘All fucking day.’_ he thought darkly, _‘All fucking_ **week** _I’ve thought about him.Now listen,'_ He told himself sternly _'Jack Frost is not going to come back, he will never come back.  Why can’t you understand this? You deranged nympho.’_ He was disgusted with himself. _‘I’ve been tricked somehow, that must be it. It is some illusion conjured up by the fretful foursome, or I guess now they’re the thwarting threesome. I would not have become so enthralled by this sprite if not for some interference on their part, I'm sure of it….…and I'm not enthralled!_ ’  Pitch gnashed his teeth together angrily. _‘Just because I’ve cum twice today while only imagining him touching me… just because I’ve spent hours being annoyed at him for his absence, and then annoyed at myself for causing his absence...’_

            He stood for what seemed like the billionth time that day and began pacing the room. Suddenly he felt a fission go down his spine. He froze with one foot in the air. His scythe materialized silently in his hands as Pitch looked around quickly. His eyes were studying the semi darkness around him.  The strange sensation came at him again, but this time he was ready, he turned towards it and seemed to catch hold of it with his mind.

            _‘What is this?’_ Pitch cocked his head to one side, his curiosity peaked as he analyzed the flavor of the fear. Not only fear, there was uncertainty, and sorrow, and underneath hidden like a surprise layer of icing on a cake, was a strong odor of something else; something familiar. He turned his head to better hone in on the scent. It faded away and Pitch was disappointed. The strength was not enough to lead him to its origins.

            A few moments later the same scent came again, stronger more insistent a twinge of desperation was tinting the smell. Pitch turned his mind to it eagerly for any kind of distraction. With his senses on full alert, he was ready for anything. Or so he thought.

            He was unprepared for the enormous amount of emotion that built up suddenly behind the fear. It’s powerful. It’s consuming, it filled his mind, momentarily blocking out the ability to think of a single other thing, and he couldn't be anything other than grateful, anything to get Frost out of his head. _‘I am going to reward the child that is producing such distractions.’_ But he spoke too soon. The emotion grew stronger, it began to overwhelm him, choking him, clogging his mind, he toned back his senses but streaked after it. 

           “Damn it,” he pulled up short and pivoted back towards the chair he had just left. He snatched his pants up from the floor then leaped into portal after portal, pulling on his slacks as he went, chasing the scent. Five teleports later, he found himself lunging out on to the top of a mountain.

_WHAM!_

“Crickey!”

            Pitch had slammed into none other than the Easter Bunny. “Aster,” He snarls as he scented around for the powerful scent, he absentmindedly brushed his clothes free of dirt and rabbit hair as he swiftly scrutinized his surroundings.

“Where’s Jack!?”

            Pitch turns his head trying to catch the trail of fear, as it had suddenly disappeared. ‘ _Damn it, the child has either passed out, been rescued from his fear or died. Curses!’_

Bunny had not felt such rage for a very long time, after everythig hpitch had done, he had the audacity to ignore him. When he spoke his voice was quiet but deep with the threat of violence. “What did you do to him?”

            It was his tone that finally managed to catch Pitch’s attention, causing him to look back at him.

Bunny took a very threatening step towards him. “What did you do to him?”

            Pitch looked out at the land stretching out from the mountain top to Bunny. _What is he talking a- Ah, damn it, I’d forgotten how annoying that nose of his could be.’_ “I don’t-”

            “Do **not** lie to me!  Jack refuses to say anything, but I know the truth! I could smell it as soon as I saw him.

Pitch paused in his sharp retort. _‘Jack didn’t say anything? Why not?’_

“What did you do?”

            Pitch flicked away Bunny's small fear of the unknown. _‘I'm sure they hounded him with questions, Why would he deliberately lie? He must know what a terrible liar he is- then again.... But they must have known he was hiding something and- and I am sick and tired of thinking about him.’_

 “If Jack-”

            Pitch rounded on him, “Silence! I don’t ever want to think about that little fool again, if you want so badly to find him, then go chase after him yourself! I'm not wasting any more of my time, energy or thought on that little flake!”

            “If you think you are leaving here in one whole piece you are very much mistaken.”

Pitch raised an eyebrow at his serious tone.

            Bunny had his boomerangs in his hands and his eyes were gleaming with hate. “if you think you are leaving here at all you are very much mistaken.”

            Pitch felt the familiar urge to fling out sarcastic comments designed to enrage and set his opponents of balance. He recalled his earlier ponderings of how Jack Frost could have affected them so deeply. He still had no answer, but now that he was entrapped within the feeling, he did not want to kill the Guardians. Pitch gauged the likelihood of him convincing Aster to not attack him _. ‘Zero percent.’_

Aster stepped closer, “Why did you do it Pitch? What could you have possibly gotten out of it?”

            Pitch kept half his mind out, carefully tuned so that if the fear came by again he could resume his chase. But his other half couldn’t help but ponder Aster’s question, _‘What did I get out of it? frustration, anger, confusion pleasure, satisfaction… maybe even a strange sort of affection.’_

            Pitch stood straight “I'm not going to fight you.”

“What!?!” Bunny snarled in disbelief and anger.

            “I don’t have Frost In my possession, he went home with you and that was the last I saw of him. If he is no longer with you, that is none of my affair. I'm leaving now.” He turned but quickly lunged to the side when Aster came at him.

“We are not done here! Jack-”

            Pitch slashed a hand out, sending a blade of sand towards Aster.  “Be silent!! I’ve no desire to converse about that ignorant, stubborn, misguided troublemaker any longer. He’s gone now and not coming back! I’m never going to see him again, are you satisfied now?! Asking about his condidtion, his whereabouts, and anything else so wholly unconnected with me is an exercise in futility! I don’t even want to _think_ about him anymore. So leave it be Aster or I’ll-” Pitch suddenly felt himself at a loss for words. What _would_ he do? The phrase ‘ _take your head’_ crossed through his mind but he knew that it would cut Jack to the core to lose the rabbit. _‘For some asinine reason…and I don't want to seriously hurt him’_

            Bunny was taken aback by Pitch's pause and then especially by his annoyed face.  He gripped his boomerang tightly as he jumped forward.

Pitch managed to duck to the side at the last second when Bunny dived for him. “Don’t make me hurt you Aster,”

            Bunny paused “Careful Pitch, it almost sounded like you don’t want to.”

            Pitch made no response except to narrow his eyes in annoyance. “It’s not my fucking fault...” a memory of Jack speaking those very same words popped into his head. He rubbed his head in aggravation.

            Bunny heard Pitch's barely audible grumble and wished for a single peek inside of Pitch's head, any help at all to know what he was thinking about.

            Pitch laughed suddenly. “You know Aster, If it makes you feel better, I honestly regret ever taking him. I regret even laying eyes upon him, I regret touching him, I regret imprisoning him in my home, I regret every moment I ever spent with him!” Pitch could not keep all of the emotion out of his voice and he felt the truth in his words, the loss.

            Bunny was beginning to feel slightly alarmed, there was a sort of crazed look in Pitch's eye he had never seen before.

“I regret-“ Pitch let out a stifled laugh that turned into a groan of defeat. _‘I regret that I am lying through my teeth. I regret that I sent him away…I regret that I know what I will be missing.’_ Pitch could tell that Aster was definitely thrown off guard. He was full of openings, and he felt disgusted when he knew he wouldn’t take advantage of a single one. “I'm leaving,” he said flatly.  “Don’t follow me.”

            Bunny seemed to awaken from his stupor, “The only way you are leaving here is in a casket!” He yelled as he leapt for him again.

Pitch once more gave ground.

            Bunny swiped at him angrily. “Fight back!”

 _‘Don’t you think I want to?!’_ Pitch remained silent. The last place he felt the elusive fear was on this mountain top, he knew this was the best place to wait for it, so he waited.

            Bunny pivoted and sliced at Pitch again, Pitch swung backwards narrowly avoiding the blow. “Damn it Aster,” he ducked again as Bunny flew over him, his thick leg muscles bunched with tension.

            Bunny landed hands first on the ground behind Pitch and used his long legs to reach out and catch Pitch's chin.

Pitch was getting very angry as he was continually forced to give ground again and again as he stalled for time.

            Bunny could tell something was off, Pitch had never been so distracted in a fight. His eyes narrowed in concentration trying to think up any kind of reason for Pitch to not want to fight him.

            Suddenly Pitch’s head flashed to the right as if it had been yanked in that direction. He had caught the scent; but it was faint. He ripped open a fifth portal but before he could step into it, Bunny had landed a solid kick to his middle throwing him back twenty, thirty feet before he managed to stop himself.

            “Didn’t I tell you mate? You are waiting for your casket, not a magic portal to take you away.”

“Why you,” ignoring the opportunity to resume his chase Pitch rose to his feet slowly; refusing to show any sign of pain before his **enemy**. He lunged forward, the corded strength in his arms and legs coming back to him. With his bare hands he whipped out towards Bunny, attacking brutally.

            Bunny was driven back, at first surprised when Pitch lashed out with his fists, but quickly fell into his fighting style of old.  He swiped out a three fingered punch and missed Pitch by centimeters.

            Pitch had to practically throw himself to the ground to avoid the rapid fire attacks. He twisted on his back and using his hands to propel himself back up, kicked out landing two solid attacks to Bunny's chest and chin.

            Bunny flew backwards and smashed into the ground, but quickly returned to his feet rubbing his jaw. He put one foot in front of the other and refocused his attention on Pitch. 

            The boogeyman narrowed his focus as well, he could tell that Aster meant business. He smiled thinking that this would be a great distraction until the scent of the trail came back. Fighting like this allowed them to hack at each other without inflicting any death tolls. ‘ _All though I'll be the only one really trying to adhere to that._ ’

            Both combatants took turns swiping at each other, getting hit and being hit. Bunny was much larger than Pitch and his grip was stronger, but Pitch brought cunning into the battle. His shorter reach enabled him to do quick successive jabs and vicious roundhouse attacks spearheaded by his knees.

            Bunny snapped out a punch and sent Pitch spinning to the ground. Bunny came at him, “I'm going to beat you to death, inch by painful inch for what you did to him.”

‘ _How about what he did to me…’_ Pitch spat blood out of his mouth. _‘I can’t kill him , but I can’t very well let him kill me.'_

            Bunny paused at his strange silence, then cursed loudly as sand encased his body in a tight fist.

Pitch rose to his feet. He wiped the blood off his face and came towards Bunny who struggled uselessly in its tight grip.

          Pitch stood a few feet away  from bunny.  “Have you had enough? I'm not going to spend my time fighting you when I am the only one under restraints.” A sudden image of Jack in restraints popped into his head. Pitch flung Bunny and his perplexed face away from him.

            Suddenly Pitch turned to the left, he breathed in the alluring scent  and opened a portal. He stepped into it, leaving a dumbfounded Bunny behind. Right before the portal closed the sand melted away from Bunny. He struggled out of its slackened hold and leaped for the portal, he jumped- but it was too late, he landed on the same mountaintop. He looked around but Pitch was nowhere to be seen.  Bunny’s temper flared into life but he managed to calm the violence in his mind. Carefully holding onto his temper he tapped open a tunnel and hopped into it. The others needed to know about Pitch's strange behavior.


	22. Confession

          When Pitch stepped out of his latest portal, he found himself in the middle of a desert, and the heat hit him straight in the face. He was a momrntarily stunned but quickly regained himself. He spun in a slow circle searching for the elusive scent, he could feel it , it was so close…. He froze when the scent suddenly vanished.

           _'It must be close by,'_   He gathered his sand beneath him and shot up into the sky. _‘There!’_ Just beyond the next sand dune was a small oasis, Pitch quickly scanned the area around him, no other place offered any sort of refuge, no other humans were in sight, _‘It's probably coming from there.’_ he launched himself forward and then alighted on the sand dune before he walked down the last small hill, watching the oasis with the eyes of an eagle. _‘No caravans or even a camel nearby… maybe he was left there by his enemies.’_

          Pitch stepped into the golden sand and approached the treeline with an eager anticipation. He passed beneath the first branches and looked around carefully. His eyes roved over low bushes, a slightly muddy pond, more sand, and- there! A bare foot!

He quickly stepped around a palm tree and gazed down at -

          " Jack Fucking Frost.” Pitch was stunned into a momentary silence.His eyes roved over him once, taking in his appearance. He noticed the pronounced reddish tint over his whole body, the hand that was gripping only one half of his staff. “Why is it always you!”

Jack was barely able to crack an eye open. “Pitch, you came,” his tone was hard to describe. Defeated happiness? Jack’s eyes closed again and his breath rattled.

            Pitch felt an icy blade slice at his heart, Jack Frost was dying. “Oh, no you don’t. I have traveled all the way from Burgess hunting down one of the most appealing fears I’ve ever come across, and I will not let you die before I get what I came for! Explain to me what you were feeling for the past three hours.”

Jack could not respond.

Pitch swooped down adn gripped jacks limp shoulders. “You **will** tell me! What are you afraid of?”

Jack tried to move his lips, tried to initiate some sort of response, but could not.

Pitch shifts his arms and scoops him up, rising to his feet.

Jack struggles, “no,”

Pitch's eyes blaze with unbelieving anger “You ungrateful little-”

“Staff, …staff”

Pitch looked around quickly “It’s not here, you don’t need it, surely the Guardian’s told you this already.”

            Jack swallowed harshly against his scratchy throat, and managed the barest of whispers “Not, leaving without it.” He managed to glance into Pitch's eyes before they closed down again. “You know why.”

            Pitch held Jack’s sweaty body in his arms, as indecision wracked his body. _‘Get him out of here now or let him suffer longer while I find the staff... Not like he needs it...no need for the both of us to suffer any longer.'_  Pitch recalled the look on Jack’s face when he had glanced at him before. It was direct, it was commanding, it was uncompromising. It was unforgiving.

With a snarl, Pitch set him carefully back under the branches. “So difficult… selfish, doesn’t care what happens to me,“ Pitch rubbed the ache in his chest from where Aster had struck him.

            Pitch searched the area around Jack and quickly found and recognized the tracks of the Fennec Fox. The tracks were clear up until the tree line where the shifting sand had clearly wiped them all away. “Damn it.” He muttered. He narrowed his eyes adn quickly searched his field of vision. annoyance settled in when he could find no clue to the animals whereabouts. He grabbed his chin in thought for a moment, then a look of distaste grew on his face. A few moments later, he reluctantly sat on the ground. 

he heaved a sigh as he settled against the golden sand. Pitch had realized that Jack needed that staff, if not for a weapon, than at least as a link to his past.  He crossed his legs and sat straight as he could, breathing in the dry air around him. He began to concentrate on his breaths. In and out, at each successive breath, expanding his mind, searching for his quarry.  As he began to listen his senses stretched outward. Suddenly he felt it, life growing near him, behind him in fact. Pitch stood preparing himself to be very annoyed. He walked back into the tree line, turned before he reached Frost and saw the same tracks in and around a large spiked bush.

           He coated his hand in a thick layer of sand and moved the spined branches upward, there underneath the branches, not 30 feet from where Frost was laying, was the other end of the staff. He snatched it off the ground and marched back to Jack. He scooped him up and spoke quickly “I’ve got the other half with me,” he reassured him quickly, as Jack’s fingers curled around it gratefully. He paused a moment with Jack draped across his arms, _‘Can’t just take him to Antarctica, he might actually die from the shock this time.’_ He hung his head. _‘And why do I care? Oh yes, because I, am an idiot.’_

           Amoment later he opened another portal and stepped through. A second later, Pitch was standing inside a green forest with a stream nearby, he laid Frost against the cushioning moss and leaned over him to scoop up some water in his hands. He brought the cool liquid to Jack’s mouth, “Drink.” He commanded as he tilted his hands. The water dribbled down the side of his flushed face. “Kersaw!” Pitch cursed explosively in some foreign language.

           He leaned over again and this time brought the water to his own lips, he slurped up a mouthful then propped Jack up in his arms, leaning him against his own chest. He tilted Jack’s head back and framed his small mouth with his hand. He pressed his lips against Jack’s and poured some of the water inside. He held the rest in his mouth as the water trickled down Jack’s throat. He stirred fretfully and Pitch once more sealed his mouth over Jack’s, pouring more of the water inside.

           Jack’s eyes flutter open. He swallows the water past his painful throat and winces at the rough sensation. Jack parts his lips  and Pitch seals them together for the third time, giving him the rest of the water. Jack pressed his bare feet and hand’s into the damp moss, loving the moist feeling on his bare skin. He feels his body sucking up the water around him. His chest rises quicker, “More.” He murmurs.

 _‘Right,’_ Pitch lifts him and then wades into the water before lowering him into the stream.

Jack breath catches as the water raises higher up on his chest. His hand clamps down on Pitch’s and feel the strong grip that held him securely in the water.

Pitch is almost bowled over as Jack’s fear seems to rise and grab him by the throat.

He suddenly recalls jacks memory of how he died and then Pitch heard himself murmuring reassurances. “It’s alright I’ve got you.”

Jack holds on tightly as he allows the water to rise up to his chin. He breathes quickly, then after a moment he presses one hand against the rocks beneath him, and tries to stand.

Pitch grabs him and after handing Jack his staff pieces, he immediately turns towards another awaiting portal appearing a second later in an icy tundra. He kneeled down, places Jack in the snow, and waited for his natural abilities to kick in and save him. Jack feels the stinging sensation and grimaces at the pain.

Pitch sees the discomfort and puts a hand on his shoulder, “You have to stay-” Pitch’s jaw slackened when Jack grabbed his hand. _‘Seeking comfort… from-’_

         Jack grabbed hold of his hand and just held on to it as the pain crackles through his body. He clenches his teeth fighting back the urge to cry out against the pain. A few half strangled growls, made it out.

         Pitch could see the physical pain he was suffering and felt an anger unlike any had felt before. He felt frustrated because there was no enemy for him to defeat, there was only Jack who had to fight this fight on his own. Pitch felt angry at Frost for lowering his guard so much as to suffer like this. _'How the hell could this have happened, he was supposed to be with the guardians.'_

          Jack could feel the sharp needles of pain moving further from eachother, their points dulling until only a vaguely pervasive ache remained. His breathing calms, and when he looks up, Pitch is kneeling next to him. His eyes were close. Jack watched the way Pitch's eyes glanced him over, Jack's eyes did the same but were somehow snagged by his mouth.

Pitch watched jacks eyes as they dropped to his lips, adn he discovered that he realy enjoyed the little leaping sensation in his gut. "Frost,"

Jack's eyes snap upward.

Pitch rolls his eyes adn grabs hold of Jack's hands, then rises to his feet, pulling Jack up to his own.

Silence held sway as they looked at each other.

“You saved me.”

Pitch quickly releases Jack’s hand.

But Jack immediately dropped his staff to cling onto Pitch’s gray hand with both of his own, “Don’t you even think about it.” He growled out. “I know I may seem worthless to you, bu-.”

            Pitch turned towards him snarling. “Of course you’re not worthless!” Pitch paused  as his words registered, then turned his back to Frost even as one hand connected them together. The snow swirled around them dotting the slate colored sky with soft flakes of white.

            Jack wetted his lips as his heart beat faster in his chest. He swallowed his nervousness, “You knew me.” Pitch stiffens, clearly uncomfortable, but Jack continued. “You knew me before, you called me Jackson, No one knows me by that name except for those who were in my first life.” His hand tightened around Pitch. “There is quite a small group of people who can claim that. Three in fact.”

            Pitch ripped his hands from Jack as the desperation built in his eyes. he turned and began to quickly walk away; to go cold turkey before he could become completely addicted to everything that was Jack Frost.

            Jack leaped at him and smashed into him throwing them both to the ground. Jack straddles Pitch holding him to the ground as Pitch refused to defend himself.  “How do you know me?”

Pitch turned his head to the side.“literally.”

“How do you know me?”

“physically.”

“Damn it, how do you know me!?”

"I don't!"

“Yes you do! You called me Jackson! How do you know me?!”

“I don’t know you!” He denied angrily.

Jack raised his fist and smashed it into the snow beside Pitch’s head.

Pitch rested his head against the snow undaunted.

Jack tried a differed tactic. “You knew my sister. You can’t deny that much.”

Pitch was silent.

Jack pressed forward. “You have a picture of her in your fucking library!”

            The nightmare king pressed his mouth closed in a tight line. Jack remembered comforting her from her many nightmares. His hands curled around Pitch’s cloak by his shoulders. “Why did you show her the things you did? She was afraid all the time. Every night!”

“I wanted to keep her safe.”

Jack laughed without thinking. “No you didn’t.”

Pitch snarled as he shoved Jack from him and leapt up to his feet. “You have an awfully convenient memory Frost, didn’t you tell me that fear was necessary?”

“Yes, but she woke up screaming every week! That’s not fear Pitch, that’s unrelenting terror.”

“I didn’t know how else to do it.”

Jack was thunderstruck “But why did you want to do it in the first place?”

Pitch was silent and Jack was reaching his breaking point. The answers were right there. So close! “Plea-”

“Don’t!” Pitch snapped out as he turned to face him fully. “Do not say ‘please.’”

Jack held out his hands beseechingly, “Don’t keep this from me… don’t shut me out.”

Pitch looked at him sharply. reassessing the astronomical odds of Jack wanting to be closer to him. wanting to know him more.  _'I'ts his sister he wants to know about, not me.'_

Jack was silent as Pitch suddenly threw him off.

Jack was expecting him to leave, poof away into one of his portals, but he didn't. He stood quite close in silence.  

Jack’s eyes were wide open, waiting, hoping, then-

"I wanted to keep her safe.”

“Why her in particular?” he asked carefully.

            “She was special.” Pitch lowered his head a fraction. “I had seen you before your human death. But I truly didn’t know you. You were not important to me then. Only she was.” Pitch could read the impatient curiosity on Jack’s face like he could read the pages of a beginner’s book for babies.

He began slowly. “Once. Many years ago, before I became what I am, I too, was human. I had a family… I had a daughter.”

Jack’s face was frozen with surprise.

          Pitch continued before he could say anything. “Your sister and she share the same face. That is why…” he paused then continued on a different track. “I was so taken aback by seeing her face after all the monotonous centuries, that I overreacted. I knew that the two of them could not possibly be one and the same person, but still, there she was right in front of me smiling and laughing. My daughter. My daughter.”

          Jack felt his heart wrench as he recognized the pain in his voice. It was similar to the pain in his voice when he spoke of his sister. Insatiable longing. Jack hesitated unsure if he should ask. “What happened to her?”

          Pitch walked a few paces from him and looked up into the sky, immensely glad that there was no moon to hear his confession. “She was young. in more ways than one. IYoung at heart, and mind. Spirit, body and soul. So young. So-” He rubbed his forehead angrily as he sighed with frustration, “So helplessly naïve.” He continued after a moment “After her mother died, she would bring me flowers to put on her grave.” Pitch stopped “One day she brought me a new flower called Latana. A flower with highly poisons berries.”

“I’ve never heard of it.” Jack spoke softly into the long pause.

          Pitch was quiet, a bitterness seemed to creep in on his darkly spoken words, “No, you wouldn’t have.” Pitch cleared his voice of emotion and continued, “The only way to prevent the growth of such flowers was to cull them out. We had yearly expeditions searching for them. We searched everywhere; I don’t know how we could have missed such a large growth of them.”

          He turned away from him. “When I saw the red and yellow flowers in her hand I panicked and snatched them from her. She had only a fistful of flowers, but I could see the stains from many berries around her mouth and hands. “Red,” he recalled, “such a deep red color.”

Jack could feel the familiar tug of old memories, but he was able to keep them at bay, by focusing on Pitch's story.

          “I tried telling her that it was poisonous, that it could kill her. But all she could understand was that her Father had destroyed the flowers for her Mother.” Pitch closed his eyes and could vividly see a young girl crying next to a fire he was building. ' _I'll never forgive you Daddy, never’_. Pitch looked up at the snow drifting silently downward. “She ran back to the house, I should have gone after her, made sure she was alright, but I had to tell someone about the danger, what if some other child found them?. By the time I got back… nothing I did was enough to save her, nothing.”

Pitch was distraught something Jack thought he would never be. He wanted to touch him, just a small touch of comfort- he reachjed out his hand and slid it softly into Pitch's. “It’s not your fault.”

Pitch ripped his hadn away as he ounded on him, “I was her father Frost, It was my job to protect her!”

          Jack refused to back down and yelled right back. “How could you have known what was going to happen? You say you did everything you could have. And I believe you, but you must believe yourself. Few could have done more, and some would have done less.” He finished quietly.

Pitch and Jack gazed at each other as snowflakes swirled between them.

Pitch broke eye contact first. “Did you know, Latana was also known as the moon flower? It can only grow with help from moonlight.”

          Jack suddenly recalled the time Pitch had freaked out when he had sworn by the moon. _‘So that’s why. His daughter died because the moon provided life for these poisonous flowers.’_ Jack stepped forward and touched Pitch’s hand lightly before holding it gently in his own. “Pitch I-”

“I have to go.” Pitch said.

          Jack holds his hand tightly then let’s go, letting his fingers caress them softly; trying to give some sort of comfort. “You said…when you knew my sister you said, you did not care about me, at that time…”

Pitch squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think a way out of this situation.

“-and you still do not care for me now.” it was both a statement and a question.

Pitch was silent for a moment “I do not…hate you.”

Jack felt a sadness grip his heart. “Then you are completely indifferent.” He posed his question in the form of a statement.

Pitch made no response.

Jack felt his heart lift lightly, he hesitated but continued on “Can I… come see you?”

“No.” he responded quickly and coldly.

Jack held the pain inside.

           Pitch opened a portal but couldn’t make himself walk through it. He struggles against his feelings, knowing that Jack was in pain because of something he had said made him feel uncomfortable. Knowing that he was turning away from him forever made him feel a strange sort of heaviness in his chest. Never had he felt such an urge to be with someone else, to be involved. He turned back, “Frost,-” his eyes widen as black sand snakes out of the portal and wraps around his midline. He looks up at Jack in shock and then is ripped back into the portal.

“Pitch!” Jack reaches for him, but the portal closed almost instantly over him.


	23. Withheld Information

            Pitch struggled against the glittering flow of black sand that he suddenly had no control over.  Enraged disbelief coursed like fire through his veins. “You will obey me,” His voice was heavy with anger and determination. Everywhere he looked there was more black sand endlessly sliding against his skin as it hauled him through numerous portals. He reached out with his hands and feet again and again, trying to find something to latch on to, but his efforts were in vain. Suddenly the shifting sands stopped and abandoned him, revealing the familiar walls of his home. His feet touched down right before the dias on which the metal globe reigned alone. He quickly assumed a crouched position and eyed the shadows warily.

            From his left, black sand suddenly whipped out towards him. He dodged to the side leaping out of its long fingered reach. He lunged to the side again as the sand gathered before him. He rolled to the side twice, then flipped back up to his feet. He could hear the fast movement of the sand as it followed him relentlessly, and although he had seemingly lost his power, although he had no idea if he was going to get it back, and didnt know if he was fighting for his life, he  couldn't deny the satisfaction he felt at finally being able to see his power from the other end.

            Pitch flipped up in the air, just clearing a second whip-like attack. He was in mid air when he felt himself in trouble. A thick stream of sand shot up and over his airborne form. It morphed into a giant fist,  and smashed him back down towards the ground. 

He plowed into the hard stone but refused to make a sound as the impact sent sharp splinters of pain screaming throughout his body. He struggled back to his feet, but he had to take a step forward to maintain his balance. In hindsight, Pitch would realize that it had been a mistake to show any sign of weakness.

            An instant's opportunity was all that was needed. Thick black bands of sand wrapped around Pitch’s forearms and biceps, pulling him up until his feet kicked uselessly two feet above the ground. He flew backwards and slammed into the metal globe. Large black chains of sand wrapped around his arms binding them tightly to the globe as his body swung freely between its metallic continents.

            Pitch looked on furiously as his own power imprisoned him. Silently, he commanded the sand to release him, demanded it. Sudenly, pitch felt a shift in the darkness before him, he loked up and saw a massive nightmare emerge from the shadows.  Pitch felt what he thought might be a slight twinge of unease. The monster came closer to Pitch and stopped four feet away. It stood a full five feet taller than Pitch, it’s pale yellow eyes were large with intelligence and hate. It’s voice had a twin sound. Both deep as a bassoon and as high as a nightingale, which reverberated from it like the ripples from a scummy pond; dingy and foul.

            “Do you know who I am?”

“A show pony reject?” Pitch's comment was sarcastic, but real curiosity was hidden beneath them.

            Pitch eyed the sand with a sense of surrealism as it gathered before him, even as he commanded it to disperse.

The giant nightmare shook its head as if shaking an annoying fly away. "Didn't even know that much."

            The sand leaped towards him striking him across the mouth. The mare swished its long dark tail once, “Wrong. I am the nightmare king.”

“You?!” Pitch’s eyes burned as he spat the blood from his mouth. "You? the nightmare king? Know your place, pony."

            "Perhaps you should reevaluate your own."

"My position has not been made clear yet."

            "You seem... quite at ease, with my power, what do you know of it?"

"Much more than you. You probably don't even know how you ended up in this position, powers taken from you, imprisoned by the very strength you once commanded,"

"My powers were taken, that means I can take them back, they are not gone from me forever."

            The mare laughed, a strange mix of human derision and the deranged braying of a horse that sent Pitch's hackles on edge. "I can not take innate power, but if you choose to disgard them, that is entierly different."

"Straighten out your forked tongue and speak plainly, what are you?"

            "I am the master of nightmares, in its full and _unfetterd_ glory."

Pitch felt his hands curl up into tight fists of anger. “I am the master here, you are nothing that I do not will you to be.”

The mare stepped forward as if eager for a response,“Do you believe it? Then why don’t you will yourself from the bonds that bind you?”

            Pitch narrowed his eyes at the creature but knew he was unable to free himself.

            “You do not believe it, because you know it is not true. You have become weak. Too weak to loosen the bonds that tie you to the metallic globe, just like you are too weak to loosen the bonds that tie you to the other creature.” The nightmare laughed at his suddenly alert expression. “You can’t hide anything from me, I know all about the ties between you, even if you refuse to acknowledge the crucial problem.”

            Pitch's eyes showed real astonishment for a brief moment but it quickly faded to be replaced by one of carefully masked dersion. "Crucial problem? The only "problem" I have here is you. But not for long." Pitch refocused on the black chains with all his might, willing them to dissolve, commanding them to obey him once more.

           The giant creature stamped its gleaming hoof twice on the ground in anger. “You still dare to seek control of the shadows!?” It spoke directly to Pitch’s mind magnifying its voice. Pitch felt his bones rumbling, it took him a momment to gather hiw wits as the nightmare continued, “You who have fear cannot con-”

            “Shut the fuck up.” Pitch snarled. “What gave you the slightest belief that **I** am afraid?”

            “Slight? there is nothing slight about it, I can smell it on you."

 Pitch's eyes narrowed, _'The same way I smell fear?'_  

             "Not long ago the fear began to trail you, I thought at first it was just the remembernance of childrens fears  but it grew too close to you, and now it all but drips from your every pore! Afraid of how he sees you? Afraid for his well being? Afraid that you will never see him again except on the field of battle--or in a bed of force, earned through superior strength?” The nightmare snorted with disgust.

Pitch smiled cruelly, “When I get out of this I'm going to make you very sorry.” _‘And I'm going to make Frost pay as well. It was, after all,'_ Pitch reasoned _, 'entirely his fault.'_

            “Really? You are going to make me sorry?” The giant stallion chuckled sickeningly, “Well I hope you can manage it in the next forty seconds, because that’s all the time you have left. And then when you are beaten down, I'll take this body and go hunting for the cause of all our problems, and you will become what you were always meant to be.”

            “Don’t you fucking touch him,” Pitch paused as dual knives seemed to slam into his chest, the first represented the real fear he felt, the actual heightened concern. The second was the realization that he was feeling it for Frost _. ‘Damn him’_ ’Pitch threw himself to the side, but his bonds held him fast. He glanced around loking for anything that could help him, anything that could give him an edge over this nightmare.but he knew the only way out o ftis was regaining his power, or outside help. Jacks face flashed across his mind, but he instantly disregarded it as a fluke. His golden eyes settled back on the giant mare as it began to speak once more.

            “It shouldn’t be too hard, he seems to trust you a little now.” The nightmare paused at Pitch's stunned expression, but continued on.  “He wouldn’t be that suspicious if a nightmare”–here it morphed into a regular looking nightmare–“were to show up. He would probably go anywhere I wanted to with no more than a few simple gestures from my part." The nightmare laughed again as it morphed back to its larger dimensions.

"The only one who gets to break Jack Frost is me."

            "It might be your eyes he sees, it might be your hands he feels, but I'll be the one doing the breaking." The beast laughed again. "He will be so confused, seeing my hate through your eyes, feeling my anger through your fists." The mare knickered once, "Can you imagine his face? Black and blue... and red."

            Pitch pulled at his arms wanting to kill the beast before him with his own hands. He braced his feet on the edges of two continents and snarled as he tried to pry himself free form the chains that bound him.

           Pitch's head was whirling with the vast range of emotions that had sped through his mind so quickly. Shock, hate, anger, a little fear, more anger and then worry. He couldn't remember the last time he had worried about someone else.  Visions of a beaten, battered and dead Jack Frost appeared before him.His blue eyes forever dulled, his lips forever still. There was a sickeningly strange roll in his stomach. The sensation spread throughout his body, as he saw red liquid pooling beneath his lifgeless form.  His brow furrowed and his eyes darkened as he gazed upon the beast before him with such hard eyes. _'Frost dead? Taken, tormented, and tortured? By this creature? A mere beast? I will not allow it! No, never!_   The idea of never seeing clear blue eyes darkened with anger, of never feeling that smooth skin beneath his fingers, never hearing his voice- his vibrancy, the flush of his skin when they got too close, the energy, the enthusiasm- he was filled with images of Jack, the feel of him, and the desire to destroy the thing which threatened him.

The outline of the horse blurred once “That won’t be enough to stop me!” The horse started forward.

            Pitch knew that his knowledge of this creature's power was incomplete. He knew that Jack was alone right now, he knew that Jack might die if this nightmare got hold of him. And he knew that he wasn't willing to risk it- risk him. The horse shifted harshly before springing back to its true form.“If you will not accept the inevitable meekly, then I will tear you down from the inside!” The demon horse suddenly lunged at Pitch and crashed into his body.

            Pitch felt like his muscles were individually bulging further from each other. He clamped down on his voice and focused his mind on evicting the shadow from him. He closed his eyes and wiled the beast from his body. Suddenly he felt a deep kind of wrenching inside.

“Ah, hhhh” he sucked in one last breath of air and felt his eyes roll back into his head before he collapsed unmoving against the globe.

*********************************************************************************************************************

“Pitch!” Jack reached for him even as the portal closed over his shocked face. He spun around frantically, searching the vast white world for any hint of an answer. ”Pitch!”

Jack turned his face to the sky, panic pushing his voice out in a rush. “Wind! Take me ho-whoa!” He yells out in surprise as the wind sucked him up into the sky.

The wind seemed to shoot straight as an arrow, flying him to his lake in Burgess park. As the forest surrounding the small lake appeared, the wind curved upward and Jack leapt down, dropping amongst the trees. Jack hit the ground running and after rounding a tree slamed right into a familiar backside.

“Crickey!” Bunny fell forward. _‘Why is everyone trying to run me over?’_

“Bunny!” Jack heard Tooth call out. Around a cluster of trees Jack saw North and Tooth quickly making their way towards Bunny to investigate his yelp of surprise.

Jack was happy to see them, glad to know they were okay, but were they on the same side anymore? He quickly skipped backward to keep all three Guardian’s in view.

            Awkward silence fell between them. Jack wanted to reach Pitch immediately to make sure that he was okay but the sight of the Guardians brought him to a stop. All their recent interactions were brought to the forefront of his mind; their distrust, his imprisonment, his escape. What would they say if he asked for their help? Would they help? Would they let him help Pitch? He wanted to deny the possibility of the latter, but couldn't banish it completely. He missed their old comradarie he missed the carefree feeling he got when he was caring about them. He wanted to run forward and shatter all the barriers between them but he was afraid of what they would do.

North took a step forward into the thick uncomfortable silence, “Jack,” he called out uncertain how to continue.

            Jack stood tall before him and looked each of the Guardians in the eye. “I'm not going to go back as long as there is a lock on that door.” His voice filed with longing, to be trusted by his family, to trust them again. “I want to, I want to so badly, but I won’t unless my innocence is acknowledged and absolute freedom is granted.”

North quickly answered. “I'm sorry, we all are, we overreacted, we just wanted to protect you.”

            “I know that.” He flicked his eyes to Bunny “I know.” North walked up to him but Jack wasn’t willing to wait. He ran forward and hugged North fiercely, holding every part of him that he could reach. _‘Don’t ever leave me again.’_

North seemed almost to hear his unspoken plea, he hugged him just as fiercely.

            Tooth approached and added her own apologies, Jack was uncertain how much of Babytooth’s involvement was known to them so he kept quiet about it. But he needn’t have feared. Tooth told him how Babytooth had confessed at once to her crime and the tongue lashing she had given them all.

“So, where is she?”

            “Back at the pole.”

Bunny didn’t know what to say, but had walked towards him with the others. Now, he stood silently next to Jack as silence settled around them.

            Jack could feel the tension between them, and was determined to cut it down. _‘I refuse to be awkward around him. I refuse to be uncomfortable with the decisions I’ve made and will not allow it to dictate my future choices.’_ With that thought firmly in mind he turned quickly towards Bunny and touched his nose, causing a little cap of ice to form.

            Bunny automatically twitched his nose letting out an undignified snort to remove the ice. He glanced at Jack in annoyance. He couldn’t maintain the flimsy anger though and he broke down into a small smile.

           “What are you doing here?” Jack asks cautiously.

The Guardians glanced at each other and exuded a tense hesitant aura.

            Jack… was not happy. “Please, no more secrets alright?”

Each of the Guardians felt a little stab of guilt reach into their hearts. But while they had decided to trust Jack, they had by no means gained any trust for Pitch.

            The doubt of Pitch's true affection was spread between them but Bunny definitely got the most generous portion and spoke freely. “We are here to stop the nightmares, Pitch is letting them roam free, giving people nightmares instead of daydreams, inducing sleep in the middle of the day, causing pandemonium. This is just the sort of thing Pitch would do. He is so determined to-”

“No he isn’t!” Jack exploded angrily.

            Bunny stopped surprised at the absolute conviction in his voice. Jack was surprised too, not nearly as much as Bunny.

Bunny slashed his hands through the air for emphasis. “How can you still trust him after what he has done? How can you _possibly_ justify his actions!?”

            North and Tooth stood silently beside Bunny, but their faces expressed their agreement.

“I know him now, more of who he really is.”

            “What in the hell are you bloody talking about?”

Jack hesitated then, “He told me, about his life before.”

            The others looked shocked, none of them ever imagined Pitch would willingly divulge anything about himself- to anybody. Let alone an enemy. The fact that his entire personality and history might be a charade taken up in the presence of Jack, passed through all of their minds.

            Tooth was silent remembering Pitch's violent reaction when she tried to pick up the picture. She cleared her throat then asked in a hushed tone, as if she was afraid of the answer. “What, who was he?”

            An image of Pitch’s anguished face flashed in Jack’s mind. He remembered the nearly tangible guilt that Pitch had felt at the loss of his daughter. The relentless flaying of his conscious. How could he expose Pitch's deepest wound to his enemies? “I-” He looked down “I can’t say.”

            “WHAT!? Why not!?

“It’s not my place to say.”

            North looked at him sharply.

“Jack,” Tooth broke in with a calm voice. “Does this have anything to do with the girl in the photograph?”

            Jack was mute, refusing to confirm or deny her guess.

“What you know could be the key to his final downfall.” Tooth pressed.

            He shook his head, “It’s personal.” ‘ _And_ _I don’t want his final downfall. maybe a few small ones, less pride, less arrogance. More tumbles than falls.’_

But this seemed to fuel the flame higher “Tell us.”

            Jack looked up, he thought they would have understood. “No.”

“Jack why are you doing this?”

            “We are your allies aren’t we? Your friends?”

“Of course! How could you even-?”

            “Then you must tell us.”

“I can’t!”

            “Why not!?”

“Because he was hurt!” Jack burst out angrily. “Because he has suffered, like none of you ever have before!”

            Bunny spoke with clipped harsh words “Okay, fine, he’s suffered, but so have we all! You don’t see any of us going around terrorizing children. Look how you, yourself have suffered! And you don’t seem to be the worse for it.”

            Jack’s heart stopped cold for a moment as he quickly glanced at North, a question screaming out of his eyes.

North scowled at Jack’s doubt and shook his head once.

Jack relaxed marginally smiling his thanks.

            Bunny continued oblivious to the silent conversation between North and Jack. “Pitch Black is a monster, he infuses fear and darkness into the world with little more thought beyond the swelling over his own powers. How can you defend someone like that! If it weren’t for Pitch-”

            A thin sheet of ice formed under Jack’s feet in a disk three feet wide. “Stop blaming all your problems on Pitch! It wasn’t Pitch who has been sending the nightmares out. The nightmares are running lose by themselves. They have turned against him, I don’t even know if he's still alive!”

            North placed a hand on Jack’s trembling shoulder, trying so hard to understand Jack. He spoke quietly, “Have you forgotten the pain he has caused us all? Caused you? Remember Sandy. How can you place trust in such a being. Pitch doesn’t-”

A chorus of shrill whinnies cut him off. As one, they turned and saw nightmares gathering in the gloom, just outside the line of sight.

            When Jack heard the threatening trumpeting of the nightmares, his real reason for rushing back here was brought back to Jack. ‘ _Pitch is in danger.’_ He stepped away from North's heavy hand and strides toward the mass alone, ignoring the calls of his shocked comrades. He stops, and calls out to the nightmares that had gathered before him, blocking his path. “Let me pass!” They shift restlessly back and forth, “Let me pass!” he snarled again. The horse’s just knicker and advance as one. “You can’t keep him. I'm not going to let you keep him any longer!”

            Jack looks down at the broken pieces of wood as he grips them tightly. “I will pull him from the power that binds him to you!” He takes each end in his hands and slams them together. _‘Come on, work!’_ But the instant he released the pressure, they fell apart. “Damnation!” Ice exploded outward across the ground in a thicker clear sheet of ice as he cursed out loud. Cold wind seemed to explode outward from him. He slammed the two pieces together again “You will work!” He commanded. _‘You must! I have to save him.’_ he begged.

            He bent his head as he smashed the two pieces together, he heard a trumpeting around him and a stamping of hooves, but ignored it all. He heard his name being called by the Guardian’s but he pushed them from his mind _, ‘I need this power! I need to see him once more.’_

            A strangely cool light shone on his face, and he looked up. Between the break on his staff, icy blue light was shining forth, the staff began to glow with the same icy color. Quickly Jack snatched it with one hand and swooped it upward until it was pointing in the air. He shot power through his staff and a thick bolt of blue light, streaked into the sky. Gray clouds instantly converged and snow began to drift down in huge fat flakes. He turned towards the black glinting mass and smiled, their demise reflecting in his hard blue eyes.

Nightmares and Guardian’s alike stared.

            “You can choose to move or choose to die, either way I'm going in.” He commanded, the horses bunched together. They attacked. Jack swung his staff to meet them and bolts of electric ice shot out, imploding the horses in front of him.The rest of the army charged.

Jack heard North call out to him, but remained where he was, holding his ground next to the hole that was the entrance to Pitch’s domain; blasting every nightmare that got close to him.no one was going to get in.

            “Jack!” North calls out insistently. Jack turned to look back at North when the nightmares had backed off, wary of his new power. “After this, you will come back?”

Jack couldn’t keep the hope from bubbling up, he slashed through two foolishly bold nightmares, “As long as no prisons, cells, or locked doors are involved!”

            “My word.” North assured him as he slashed through another nightmare.

Jack turned back towards the entrance of Pitch’s lair. He jumped down the hole as a nightmare lunged for him. Overhead he heard the cry of the defeated stallion and North's triumphant roar as he took up guard at the entrance.

            Knowing that no more nightmares would be coming down the way he had, allowed jack to focus fully on the task before him. He bent his knees as he fell into darkness. He steadied his stance from the long drop and after listening carefully for the sound of immediate pursuit, breathed deeply and extended his senses. ‘ _If he is here I will find him.’_ He griped his staff tightly and marched into the darkness. He crept through the darkened caverns, up crazy flights of stairs that seemed to crawl along the walls. He cautiously extended his senses before leaping across small chasms. He circled around Pitch's home not knowing in what direction he was going, but never the less going deeper and deeper into the boogeyman’s domain. His eyes took in each massive column, each side tunnel, and wondered for what reason Pitch might have visited them. Intent as he was on finding Pitch, he couldn’t deny the strange sense of happiness it gave him to be seeing more of Pitch's home.

            He rounded yet another corner and froze. His attention immediately latched onto a small entryway that boasted a large lantern to the left of its entryway. The entryway was small but the cavern beyond was just the opposite. It was massive. He could hear a dimmed sort of roaring sound, like a large amount of running water. Jack already knew that Pitch was not in this room, but he slowed anyways as he glanced at the lantern, ‘ _I bet Pitch spends a good amount of time here, with this light and all.’_ Jack let out an undignified snort of disbelief at the thought of Pitch singing as he bathed. ‘ _But still, it’s like I'm seeing another part of him. Hard to believe that amongst all of the extreme facets of his personality that I’ve discovered, there is ssomething so normal to be found as enjoying a bath.’_

            He quickly moved past the opening but promised himself that he would take another more thorough look into it when time permitted. He paused as he heard a sudden low whicker ahead of him. Jack crouched down, and leaned against the smooth walls as he inched his way forward. His outstretched hand crawled along the wall testing for openings in the stone wall. He paused when his fingertips met with the cool open air.


	24. The Voice

             Jack shifted his position, until his chest was pressed against the cool stone and peeked around the corner. He saw that he had stumbled upon another giant room. Before he could focus his mind on searching for Pitch’s presence, He heard a small squeaking sound. His eyes were quickly pulled upward. High above him the ceiling was dotted with hundreds of cages. Jack quickly stifled a gasp, _‘The fairies! They’re alive! Why didn’t Pitch kill them?’_

            He heard the brief sound of horse hooves and refocused on the real problem before him. He quickly counted four or five dark masses that were wandering around the fairy cages. Occasionally snapping at them causing the fairies to squeak in alarm and huddle together in the center of their cages.

            Jack’s eyes burned with anger as he rushed out into the open “Hey!” he yelled. The horses stilled then eagerly turned towards the hope of a much more entertaining kill. Jack shifted his grip higher up on the neck of his staff and blasted all four of the sand creations, killing them almost instantly. Before their sharp cries of defeat were done echoing in the wide cavern Jack had reached the cages. He flew up towards the cages, and after looking in, saw all the tiny fairies trembling together. He hated to see them so frozen by their fear, and hastened to reassure them even as he took another glance around looking for Pitch. “Don’t worry, I'm coming back for you, everything is going to be allright. I’m coming back, I promise,” Jack leaps back down to the flat stone floor. No longer unwilling to be seen he called out for the king of nightmares. “Pitch? Pitch where are you?”

            Jack walked quickly through the darkened cavern. He sees the globe ahead glinting in the dim light of the cavern. Its shape was strange though…something was strung up on it. He flew over towards it and saw Pitch, his head hanging down limply, his arms were draped between Africa and North America. Thick black cords held him in place, but Pitch was not fighting them at all, in fact Pitch wasn’t even…

            Jack’s hands curled into fists as his heart beat sickeningly fast. He flew up to stand level with him. Jack cupped his cheek, and snatched it back as heat permeated his hands. Pitch didn’t respond, but his skin was flushed and sweat beaded his brow profusely. _‘He’s’_ Jack watched Pitch and saw his chest rise and fall in shallow uneven breaths. Jack felt like his heart had been released from an overly tight squeeze. “He’s alive,” he said to the empty air. Not caring that no one could hear him. Only having to verbally express his relief. To make it real.

 _'And you’re going to stay that way.’_ Jack floated up on the slight wind that came down through the various openings in the stone walls. He reached up with both hands to touch the sand that was binding Pitch to the globe, he instantly froze the thick cords, broke them and struggled under Pitch’s sudden dead weight. He hovered back to the ground and carefully laid him down.

             Jack kneeled near his face and watched hoping for any change that would help guide his next actions. But nothing happened, Pitch remained unresponsive, immobile, and was making Jack’s skin crawl. Jack called to him in increasing tones of panic. “Pitch? Pitch wake up!”

             He let a layer of ice cover his hands and held Pitch’s face, trying to cool him down. The warmth was felt through it, but Jack renewed the layer of ice and held on. “Pitch? Wake up.” He ran his hands over Pitch’s forehead trying to cool him down further. He took off his cloak and ran his hands over Pitch’s chest.

             Pitch was in darkness, a darkness so deep, he wouldn't have been able to see the hand in front of his face-if he had the willpower to raise it up that far. He heard something calling out desperately but couldn’t understand what it was saying. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t see. Couldn't care to. Everything he had strived towards for so long seemed less and less important. Strength, power, control. He let the memories go one by one, He stood immobile his hands at this sides, unsure of which way he could walk, unsure if any dangers that might lurk beyond him, might already be reaching out for him.

            Pitch turned slightly _‘What was that sound?’_   Words began to distinguish themselves in disjointed phrases. _‘A voice? …It is a voice. Do I know that voice?'_ Pitch felt like he was trying to lift his arms while they were weighted down with stone blocks. Then realixed that they have always been that way, _'No need to bother myself about it. No need to bother myself about anything...But that voice...'_ He knew that voice. He wanted to push it away, to silence it, Couldn't it just leave him in peace? But it kept going. A new sort of constant in the never changing darkness. _'It was,'_ Pitch thought after a few moments _'an unncessesary change.'_  He wanted to get to that voice to silence it. _'How can I think of anything with that voice making such a racket?_ '

             Pitch could feel his mind turning towards it. _'Go away!_ ' Part of  him wanted to shout at it, another part of him wanted to reach out and cup that voice to his chest. It seemed familiar somehow, like an aged photo of the world above. A world he didn't belong to anymore. A world he shouldn't ever return to. But still the desire to become one with the world above persisted. Something was telling him to reach out and touch it, just once. The reason why was sitting just beyond of his line of sight, just out of his reach. He focused his mind on that voice, and the answer seemed to form before him. _'I know that voice... It’s-! It’s Frost!’_ His memory supplied him with a fresh image of his face.  He thought to himself in wonder. ‘ _Who? i know that face and name, but how?’_

 Jack placed his iced hands on Pitch’s face. “Don’t leave, you are not allowed to leave until I say so.”

            He felt a cool sensation settle against his cheek. Perplexed, he placed his own hand on it and was startled when the hand lifted easily. He placed his fingertips against his cheek and felt nothing but his own skin. The coolness slid across his forehead, then appeared across his chest. _‘He's touching me.'_

            Jack bowed his head when Pitch remained unresponsive. He heard the sounds of battle above him, he looked back at Pitch, He took Pitch’s limp hand in his own and held it for a moment remembering all the strength that once coursed through this hand. The pain it had felt. _'Just like me._ ' He leaned forward and pressed his cool lips against Pitch’s still ones.

            Pitch suddenly felt his lips tingle with sudden cold. He leaped back in wary confusion,disregarding the fact that he could now move his legs, but the sensation seemed to be attached to his lips. Pitch quickly rubbed at his lips to remove the unknown sensation but then realized he knew something like this sensation. ‘ _Where was it from? Where had I encountered it before?’_

           He could feel the sudden sensation of cool air coursing through his chest, sweeping through each limb, extending all the way to his fingertips. Pitch touched his lips hesitatingly. For once ignoring his instincts to rebel and reject. For once he let himself feel the warmth that permeated his chest, even as the coldness seeped into his lips. _‘It must be Frost! He's kissing me but why?…It feels familiar, but not quite the same...'_ He told himself that he didn't care, but immediately felt the lie in his words and wondered if he really did care? _'But why should I? What is Frost to me, just a little spec of a thing.'_ He focused on Jack as the coolness seemed to diminish against his lips. _‘He is leaving?’_ Pitch felt the disappointment and sadness; desperately ignored them both and turned to his new task of making him stay with a determination of castle walls; strong and unyielding.

            Jack pulled back and looked down at Pitch again hope fluttering in his heart. “If you are not walking around in 30 seconds I'm going to beat your unresponsive unconscious ass so long, you will be the moon for mercy.” He waited. If this didn’t work, nothing would.

            Pitch turned upward willing himself to raise nearer the voice that was speaking, To understand what Jack was saying. He listened momentarily then his eyes narrowed, _‘Beg the moon for mercy? That impudent little…’_ Pitch wanted to find that voice and make him eat his words. _‘He is going to beat my ass?’_  Even on the brink of death, Frost amazes him. _'Wait,'_ Pitch narowed his eyes in concentration. _'I do know that face, that voice, that name, Frost-it's, It's Jack frost!!._ ' A torrent of pictures, memories, emotions came streaming into his mind. _'Jack frost, whom I had taken, bedded, cast out, saved and then abondoned.'_ Everything come to him in a flash of blinding lihght.  _'I'm coming,'_ He liffted his arms, and then suddenly felt them stop. He looked down and could see the faint outlines of chains secruing his arms to the floor, and he thought, _'Why do I want to?'_

Jack held on to Pitch’s left hand, but his hold got tighter as each second passed as his hope became thinner and more insubstantial.

            Pitch could feel his left hand tingling. He knew that Frost was holding his hand. His eyes burned as he felt something shift inside him. He could almost seee the truth of the matter. Pitch wanted to scream his denial. He wanted to scream his refusal. But there was nothing left to do except recognize the fact that what he was feeling was affection, for frost. He struggled with the strength of each of his feelings, with the chains that kept him secured to the floor, away from Jack. but as he realised the truth in his feeling as the chains became thinner.

           His ability to disregard all tender feelings related to Frost was quickly being overpowered. _‘No! NO! I swore I would never do this again!’_ The feeling that were fighting to be recognized had seized him by the throat, demanding to be acknowledged and allowed. _'I've got to get away, at once, immedietly!'_ He seemed to shoot upward, he reached for the control of his own body, determined to tear himself away from the painful connections before he was too late to save himself. To save them both from the bonds of affection that were already winding them together.

            Jack watched the once proud nightmare king. He tilted his head, listening to the reverberating sounds of battle that reached him. He reluctantly rose to his feet, crouching over Pitch's body, still holding his lifeless hand, “I have to go,” he whispered, lingering over his hope. No response.

“Pitch? Please?”

…Nothing.

            He stared at Pitch's chest as it slowly rose and fell with slow and shallow breaths. They were even. He was alive. Jack nodded his head in silent acceptance of his situation and laid Pitch’s hand back on his chest, “I'll come back for you,” He gripped his staff, and walked back towards the cavern entrance.

            Pitch could finally feel his fingers, his hands, his arms and legs, he could hear footsteps walking away. Fury swelled within him, _‘The child dares to leave with such indifference after all the insults he has heaped upon me?’_ He clenched his hands, and demanded that his body obey him. He struggled viciously wrenching back control from the nightmare that had locked him deep down inside of himself.

            Jack listened to the battle echoing in the caverns as he walked further from Pitch. He knew he was needed at the battle field. Without looking back, he quickly picked up speed and turned the corner, stumbling as he rubbed his eyes.

A pair of yellow eyes watched him wipe his pale face as he rounded the corner.


	25. Ownership

           Jack peered over the rim of the hole and saw both North and Tooth fighting the mares. He quickly popped out of the entrance and landed directly in front of it. The mares were a little taken aback by his sudden appearance, but not for long; soon the nightmares were coming at him thick and fast. He knew he was able to beat them, but the real pleasure came from the act of it, knowing that he was going to do it, he was going to fight, pit his own strength agaainst those that had wronged him. He stood his ground in front of the hole _‘No one, no one is going to get in.’_ He vowed silently. He circled the hole with his staff once and a five inch thick sheet of ice covered it.  He turned his attention back to the approaching horses and fired out shot after shot of blue bolts of ice.

            Bursts of black sand exploded in their ranks as Jack searched for the missing third Guardian,but Bunny was nowhere to be seen. Jack leapt into the air to stand by North. He spun around as North sliced his swords through the air and destroyed a horse that was galloping at Jack’s backside. Jack ducked underneath North’s outstretched arms and shot two blasts of ice at horses that had been sneaking up on North’s flank. “Where's Bunny?”  He shouted through all the noise.

            “He was here not long ago.”  North shouted back as he buried both swords into teh neck of a nightmare. "What is it with these creatures? They are not the same as-" North grunted as he lunged forward slicing through a nightmares  head, "-the ones we've fought before,"

            "I told you, they rebelled against Pitch, he is not controlling them anymore." Jack glanced around again and again, but could see neither hide nor hair of Bunnymund. Unease was coiling in his gut as he cracked a frozen nightmare into pieces.  He turned to North, "I've got to find Bunny, I'll be back as soon as I can,"

            Without waiting for a response, Jack jumped up into the air, “Wind!” He looked down at the black mass of moving nightmares, the blue circle of ice, North’s red coat and Tooth’s green feathers, _‘Bunny, Bunny,’_ Jack chanted as his eyes darted back and forth, suddenly his eye caught the tail end of a small group of black sneaking through the trees beyond the opening to Pitch’s home.

            “There you are.”  Jack murmured aloud and dived downward. He hovered over the ground, and raced forward to catch up with the nightmares. He tapped the first horse he could with his staff, silently freezing it to the ground.  Jack moved up the ranks of the horses unnoticed and froze everyone of them. Not one made it to their comrades ahead.

            Further on, he could see Bunny being herded by the nightmares, further away from the other Guardians. After ascertaining Bunny's relative safety, Jack flew forward, gleefully looking forward to Bunny’s dumbstruck face. He stayed low to the ground and tapped his staff against any shiny black leg that passed him. He crouched low behind the ring of horses and smiled as he put his plan into action.

            Amidst the falling snow, Bunny held out one boomerang threateningly in his right arm while his left arm was held at protectively against his chest. His heartbeat was beating a little faster than he thought it would. He clenched his paw slightly and winced at the pain.  Healing took a lot longer in the persence of these mares.

            Suddenly a curved stick appeared over the backs of the horses. A blue light flashed along the ground and froze all the horses to the ground; their legs sealed in thick ice from their hooves to above their knees. Their shocked trumpeting and furious whinnying broke through the night. Jack tapped one of the nightmares in front of him, freezing it solid. He hopped astride the back of it and casually called out, “Hey Bunny!” Jack was not disappointed, Bunny’s mouth dropped and his eyes opened wide. It was perfect.

“Jack!… How?…Jack?!”

            “ ‘Jack‘ and ‘How,’ is that all you can say?” Jack jumped down, “Hurry up and help me kill these things, we have to get back.” Bunny was too stunned for motion but as he watched Jack casually freeze each immobalized enemy he just shook his head and followed his example. Buny gripped his boomerang and sent it sailing through the imobilized mass. 

            In a matter of minutes the hoard of monsters was completely decimated. Jack flew over to Bunny and wrapped Bunnies left arm over his slim shoulder and hurried back through the snow.

            “Jack, slow down mate,”

“I can’t,” he sneaked a glance at his limping companion. “Sorry Bunny, Wind!”

            “No!" Bunny cried out in alarm "I’d rather **crawl** all the way back to the Warrahhhhhhhhhh!!”

            Bunny slammed his eyes shut as he rose straight up into the sky, forty,sixty feet high. Bunny curled his long legs up to his chest, and fought the urge to latch onto Jack with all his strength. As much as he wanted to, he wanted Jack to be able to see were the hell he was going. Having a giant bunny blocking the navigator's view would not be a very good idea. 

            Jack often regretted not taking advantage of that singular situation. The endless comments he could have made, the jokes he could have goten all at bunnys espense! But he had a job to do and focused on it. If he was going a little faster than what was absolutely neccesary, it was simply because he was concerned for his friends.

            Jack sped through the sky towards his companions and spotted them instantly in the same clearing. Jack pulled up short in shock by what he saw. "What the fuck is that?!"

A giant nightmare was striding across the suddenly small clearing in front of North and Tooth.

            Bunny cautiously opened one eye at his strange tone, and saw the long, long drop below him. "Crickey!" Then he looked over and saw his companions and the giant mare. " **Crickey!** "

Suddenly the beast looked up at the pair of them. **“You!”**

Both Jack and Bunny are taken aback, “It talks!” They said in unison.

            The giant horse had white fiery eyes that blazed with hate and willpower. His eyes bored into Jack’s. “Your death is all that I came for!” The nightmare came lunging forward into the sky, straight at the stunned pair.

            Jack wrapped his arm around Bunny as much as he could, then immediately pivots at the last second and using the wind to attack, shoved the nightmare to the left.

“Jack! What in the hell is that thing?” Bunny demanded aloud as the pair pelted down towards the other guardians.

"I have no idea but you had better be careful, stick close to-“

A shrill whinny cut him off as the giant mare raced back towards them.

"Shit," Jack practically flung Bunny into North's arms as he zoomed past the trio.

            Jack zoomed past his companioins and towards teh snow covered ground. He skidded against the snow, creating ice beneath his feet, allowing him to slide well beyond the others. If this giant nightmare really was after him then the last thing he wanted to do was stick close to his companions.  

            He ignored Bunny's outraged calls for him to return and instead moved further away by creating curves in the ice beneath him. His speed increased as he twisted its direction guiding himself into a smooth turn. He slid backwards, allowing him to face his sudden and unexpected enemy, while still putting space between the Guardians and the nightmares intended target. Himself.

            The wind’s powerful attack had surprised the nightmare but not for long. It had quickly recovered and ran full on at Jack; but despite Jack's speed the beast gained ground. It's heavy hooves creating small craters in the ground.

            Jack carefully shifted his staff, causing the makeshift ice track to lift in the air. Then as one fluid motion, Jack flung the track in a large curve, up and over the nightmare's head. Upside down, Jack stared into its wide and angry eyes. The giant horse snapped its huge teeth after Jack, missing him by less than three inches. Jack zoomed back in the opposite direction and listened to the mares frantic attempts to turn.

            Jack turned his head and saw the nightmares gaping mouth feet from his face and closing in fast. A jolt of fear spiked through him as he pushed power through his staff, kicking himself off the ice track and sharpley to his right.

The nightmare pivoted and followed relentlessly. ‘ _This nightmare is a lot faster than the others. I’ll have to be careful’_

            “Jack!!” Tooth called out in warning.

            Jack saw the nightmare closing in on him through his peripherals and once more shot power through his staff, but he was too hasty, he had released too much power. teh intense power flung his body back and had crashed into the snow covered ground.

            The nightmare switched gears and came after him relentlessly. Jack scuttled backwards but couldn’t get enough speed. The nightmares eyes burned as it opened its black gaping maw. Polished ebony teeth reflected brightly from the pure white snow. Jack’s eyes were wide with fear as the nightmare closed in on him. 

            Suddenly he felt himself dropping into the ground. He felt a moment of panic as the walls rose up over him.

The nightmare stamped on the closed tunnel furiously and screamed out his anger.

            Jack popped up next to the Guardians looking shaken. "You alright mate?" Bunny asked, holding out his right paw.

He  quickly realized that Bunny had saved him. He took hold of Bunnys offered paw and rose up to his feet. “Yeah, thanks Bunny.”

“Any time mate.”

            Jack gripped his newly restored staff, he was afraid of breaking it again, he would be at the absolute mercy of the nightmare before him. And it had been made clear that the nightmare would kill without any hesitation. He stepped out away from the guardians intending to challange the beast-

"Don't even think about it."

            Jack turned back to look at Tooth who had spoken.

"Don't even think about taking that thing on by yourself. This creature is powerful and is set on your destruction, we have to work together."

            Jack turned towards the beast and eyed it thoughtfiully as Tooths words repeated in his mind. He couldn't decide if he was more happy or anxious. He felt like his family was being sewn back together. After everything that had hapened, they were finally getting back to normal. And yet... with the return of these long-sought dynamics there also came an increase of the desire to protect it. He wanted to face the creature alone, didn't want anymore hurt to come to his family. He thought of Bunnys arm, the limp in Tooths stance. North alone seemed unscathed but how long would that last? Was he willing to risk them?

  Jack could feel frustration build up within him. _'Why is it after me? Where did it even come from?'_   “Why do you hate me so much? What’s your problem!?”

“You are,” the nightmare snarled, “but not for long.”

            Jack didn't hesitate, didn't stop, didn't think for a moment. He shot straight up into the sky as the nightmare lunged forward, because he wasn't willing to risk them.

 The wind boosted his speed of flight and as fast as the nightmare was, it couldn’t catch the wind.

            The nightmare screams out its frustration as he misses Jack by inches yet again. “Is this all you can do?! Run from me?! How could anyone be so attracted to such cowardice?" The mare lowered its voice, catching, as it hoped it would, Jack's attention. "I would have thought that at least you, would be eager to fight.”

Jack didn't slow down, but wondered what the beast meant.

             The nightmare stalked forward slowly this time, trying to provoke Jack into stupidity. It’s hooves making no sound against the empty air beneath it. It’s eyes burned hotly with a white light so much brighter than the other nightmares.

_'So much paler than Pitch's eyes.'_

The nightmare suddenly lunged forward,

“Wind!”

            A gust of wind bunched up and seemed to charge against the horses’ side. Instead of being thrown to the ground, as Jack had hoped, the wind was stopped by a concave shield of sand. The nightmare lifted its head in challenge.

Bunny leaped upward and flung his boomerang as hard as he could at the enemy.

            The horse flicked its tail once and each strand seemed to elongate ten times its original length. They whipped forward over the nightmares broad back, wraping all the way around its body. Then they ballooned out merging into a a thick shield of sand. Jack could see Bunny's boomerang held fast in the thick sand. “NO!” Jack yelled, causing the others to turn and stare at him.

Jack looked over at Bunny and paused when he saw all eyes upon him.

           Bunny smiled softly and called up to him, “Thanks Jack! But there’s no need to worry, I’ve got more than few tried and true tactics to get them back. I'll be alright. After all I’ve got my team-mates to back me up, and so do you.”

           Jack mutely locked gazes with the nightmare as guilt washed through him. He knew they wouldn't be happy with him fighting on his own. “Sorry,”

“Don’t ever be sorry for wanting to protect those around you.”

            Jack couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on his face. He bent his head slightly to shade his eyes and nodded.

The nightmare flung the boomerang harshly back through the trees.

Bunny quickly tapped his paw on the ground and dived into the hole as the nightmare dashed towards him.

            North slashed at the beast with his swords as it went by him. His sword bit deeply into his flank but the sand just shifted around his blade and reformed after the blade had gone by. North stumbled forward, unprepared to meet no resistance against his blade.

The nightmare bunched together a hard ball of sand and slammed it into North, sending him flying some twenty feet from the giant horse.

“Do not interfere!”

            The beast swung it’s head left and right searching for the creature that had dared interupt his hunting, but its attention was snagged by something. The mare noticed a shadow growing on the ground. It flared its nostrils as it rapidly grew in size, swallowing him whole and still growing. Suddenly the horse looked up and saw a massive ball of snow falling directly towards him. The horse snarled in disbilef and anger as the missile landed squarely on its target.

            Jack stood high above in the air sweat cooling on his face after the intense exertion. He held his staff in a tight grip and shot bolt after bolt of blue lightning straight at the boulder of snow. After leaving the end of the staff, each streak of light morphed into a three inch thick seven foot long spick of solid ice. After a few moments of the endless barrage, Jack stopped and bent over breathing heavily supported only by the wind. A cool breeze blew against his face comfortingly.

“Thanks wind.”

            Jack looked down at the massive spiked ball below him. It resembled a sea urchin, the kind with the sharp quills sticking out all over it. Jack smiled and quickly counted up the Guardian’s. Tooth was standing just inside the tree line, North wasn’t too far from her looking around carefully for any other nightmares. Bunny stood in the middle of the clearing and was looking up at Jack.

He lifted a lean muscled blue arm in a silent cheer.

            Jack smile broadened.  _‘I did it! I won!_ ’ He closed his eyes and fell backwards letting the wind lift his body to the height of his happiness. Forgetting everything in the wake of his enemy’s glorious defeat.

            Down below the others watched as Jack reveled in his victory. Tooth walked out from under the tree line to see Jack better. She paused when a soft sort of shudder went through the ground. Her lavender eyes shot to the skewered mound and saw a few innocent crumbles of snow fall silently to the ground. “Jack!!”

            Jack nearly fell from the sky with alarm. The wind set him upright and Jack looked all around for any hint of danger. His eyes saw nothing so he looked to Tooth who had called out to him. He followed her line of sight and saw the ends of his stalactites were quivering; all of them. “GET OUT OF THE WAY!!” he yelled as loudly as he could.

            The Guardians did not need to be told twice. They bolted into the trees for cover. Jack recalled the thickness and length of the spears he had imbedded and thought about how far the guardiasn could go. _‘The distance alone is not going to be enough…’_ He aimed his staff and created a barrier around the edge of the tree line. Five inches thick and six feet high. He gasped in pain and shock as an enormous amount of power flowed down his arm and out of his body. His eyes squinted open against the pain as he grit his teeth and continued racing the clock.

            Suddenly the spikes stilled. Jack was only just finishing up his first half.  He held his breath…

_SWOOSH!_

            The spikes launched outward. Jack saw them shoot up into the sky. His arm seemed to move in slow motion dragging the tip of his staff through the seemingly thick viscous sky. The power shooting from the tip of his staff continued as he swung the tip upward until it was facing the sky. A sheet of ice grew from the tip of the staff creating a thick but vertically narrow shield of ice in front of him. The missiles connected with the ice and managed to save him but the shield broke into a million pieces, falling back to the ground tinkling together when they collided into each other.

            Jack was breathing hard as the other missiles flew past him. He fell to his knees as the wind supported him. Sweat dripped from his brow as he looked down at the giant nightmare that had returned seemingly unhurt.

            The wind lifted Jack high up in the air moving him further from the mare. Exhausted as he was Jack hopped back a little further hoping to entice the mare into pursuing him.  He quickly glanced at the incomplete shield he had created on the forest floor. He was relieved to see the stalactites were much fewer in number and though they had impaled the shield, they couldn’t pass all the way through. He glanced back at the unfinished portion. _‘Not all of the Guardians would have run that way. If any of them are hurt the others will take care of them.’_ He refocused his mind on the mare. He swiveled his eyes back towards the beast. His heart stopped.

 ‘ **W _here is it !?!_** _’_

            He didn’t know which way to turn, from which direction to defend himself. His heart beat was loud in his ears as he strained to hear anything that would give the monsters position away. Jack heard a demonic scream of triumph away to his right. He looked back over his shoulder and saw the giant mare not even ten feet away and coming in fast for the kill.


	26. Speculations

            Pitch watched Jack slink around the corner _. ‘Going back to help the Guardian’s, no doubt.’_ Pitch wanted to be angry, but he realized that Jack had come. He had made the effort to find out if he was alright. He had chosen to search for Pitch first and then help the Guardian’s. _‘Why?’_

           His yellow orbs contemplated the dark ceiling but no answer came to him. No sudden inspiration. No knowledge as to why, when Jack walked away, there was a strange sort of pang in his chest.

           He yearned to reclaim his old ways, to reach out and take what he wanted for himself, but the strange allure of Jack’s elusive consent prevented him from doing what he had always done. He flexed his hand feeling each individual finger respond to his commands. He could feel himself settling back into his body; slowly but smoothly. Throughout it all Pitch couldn’t stop thinking about Frost and why he had followed him here. _‘Why did he insist on coming here?’_

          Not too long after he flexed his hand muscles, Pitch was able to push himself up into a sitting position on the steps of the dais. _‘He really couldn’t have picked a more uncomfortable spot to place a recovering body.’_

           The sounds of the battle echoed above him. Pitch flexed his hand and called upon his powers to form. After a moment a small amount of sand formed in the center of his hand. ‘ _That won’t do._ ’ He dismissed it, then quieted his mind, and called for it once more. Again the same small amount appeared, not even a whole pound. He stood gazing at the small chunk of sand then began walking towards the entrance to Burgess park. Pitch paused as a sudden stillness descended above him. He looked up at the stone ceiling. Clearly but faintly he heard Toothina call out a warning. “Jack!!”

           Pitch grit his teeth in anger. ‘ _Why is it always him?!_  ' He threw out a hand and snarled in frustration when no portal appeared. He limped towards the entrance and instead of seeing a bright disk of light on the ground, he saw a dimmed circle as if the opening had been sealed over. Pitch looked down at the little amount of sand that was circling near his shoulder. “I'll cut through it with my bare hands if I have to.” He promised himself out loud.

Then he heard Jack’s voice rise easily rise above the silence. “GET OUT OF THE WAY!!”

           Pitch tenses once more and jumped back at the sudden screeching sound from above him. He crouched down to a position of defense. He looked over towards the entry way and saw thick sparkling chunks of ice. Pitch stood and approached the strange object with haste but also caution. He took the time to register that it was indeed thick chunks of ice that had broken apart and fallen through. He looked up and saw more of the same type of ice in a jagged ring around the circular entryway. He thought for a moment. ‘ _Frost must have covered this…but wh- to protect me?’_

           He recalled Jack’s last words to him on the dais. ‘‘I'll come back for you.’’ _‘Did he do it to protect me?’_ Pitch looked again at the small amount of sand.

           Suddenly Pitch heard a horrible screaming sound. It was hateful, triumphant, vindictive, evil. And he knew it was from the giant nightmare. He knew in that moment that Jack was fighting for his life, and probably putting it at risk to save the lives of the Guardian’s, ‘ _And’_ a small part of him acknowledged, ‘ _maybe even my own.’_

           Pitch glanced to his right; down a long hallway and through a few caverns was one of the very few physical weapon’s he had. Namely a sword from his human life. To run there, himself would take up vital time. He glanced back to the sand and commanded a portal only about four inches in diameter. It opened for him. He cautiously stuck his hand in focusing all his power on it, reached around in the darkness. His had touched cold steel and grasped the handle tightly.

           Pitch pulled and from the center of the portal, a sword appeared. Almost four feet long, it was a plain blade, with the guard unable to boast any more finery than the blade. The ends of the guard tapered into a simple scroll design, curling beneath itself. The most intricate part would have been the pommel of the sword. Inside the pommel was a beveled stone of red, with a symbol etched. As if it had been sliced open and then resealed together after the mark had been made. He no longer recalled what the symbol meant, nor how it got there. He only knew that this sword and he had killed many people during his past life. He held the sword in one hand point down. The familiar weight seemed to calm him.

           Pitch threw the sand down and commanded it to lift him up in the air. His head peered over the rim of the iced over entryway cautiously. Then all secrecy forgotten, he stood stock still as he took in the scene around him. The world was peppered with spears of ice and snow. Gouge marks in the ground, and in the trees were evident everywhere. He looked off to his left and saw a thick wall of ice with ice spears sticking through them.  
 _‘What in the hell happened up here?’_

           The sand beneath him seemed to falter and Pitch quickly got out of the hole and stood upon the solid ground. The small clump of sand seemed grateful for the relief. Pitch held his sword at his side. Suddenly he heard a crashing noise come through the trees towards him.

A nightmare came rushing through the break in the trees. It halted when it saw Pitch.

           Pitch stared hard at it. He quickly raised one hand in the air and commanded the horse to disband. The mare pranced back and forth as if in slight pain but otherwise remained unchanged. Suddenly the creature reared its head and bolted for the ice wall. Pitch followed after snarling internally and trying to mentally subdue his runaway soldier.

           As he approached the wall, it’s width, height and length could not fail to impress him, but he had little time for admiration. He saw the edge of the wall some twenty feet down from him. He immediately made his way towards it.

            He stepped around the corner and saw nobody. “Where the fu-” suddenly he looked up. _'Jack!'_  HIs heart clenched in fear, He focused on Jack who was in the sky looking at the ground, he seemed very still. Suddenly the giant mare appeared running at full steam towards an oblivious Jack. _‘No not oblivious,’_ Pitch realized, _‘he just doesn’t know what to do, I didn't drag myself all this way to see him die!’_   Pitch reached a hand out with all his willpower.

**************************************************************************************************

The mare dove for Jack its muscles bunching beneath its ebony hide.

           “Wind!” Jack screamed. The wind swirled around him and then shot out in all directions, Jack heard the mare’s demonic scream of triumph morph once more into a frustrated snarl of anger and hate.

           The beast was shooting backwards away from Jack fighting against the winds powerful strength but there was more to it. The mare knew it was strong enough to make headway against even such violent gale force winds. Something more was going on.

           Jack focused his mind on repelling the creature and the wind increased in speed and strength.  
But the nightmare was by no means intimidated. Knowing that its intended victim was only just so far away gave him strength and a sort of crazed determination.

           Jack was panting heavily again as he eyed the mare as it slowly was forced further from him.

           The nightmare was however much less agreeably occupied. _‘My power… something is messing with my power…’_ The beast felt a sudden suspicion steal into his mind, _‘It can’t be…’_ he turned his thoughts to the ground racing towards Pitch's lair. ‘ _It’s im-possible…’_ His senses sped towards the globe and when the mare opened its eyes it knew the truth. Pitch Black had escaped. _‘That must be the answer, only he and two others can affect my powers to such a degree. How did he get out?!’_

Jack paused after the mare was shoved some forty or so feet away from him. Carefully calculating his next counter attack Jack studied his opponent.

           The nightmare trumpeted his anger causing little bullets of sand to fly out striking the forest floor. _‘I must end this quickly._ ’ As hard as it was to admit, Jack Frost was not a weakling, as he was now, he was an enemy that could fight him on almost equal terms, The mare fought against the strength of the wind. ‘ _Curse his control of that forsaken wind!’_

Jack again threw up a shield of ice to defend himself as bullets of black sand flew past him with terrifying speed.

           The nightmare seemed to sneer at him, tossing its head in the air in mockery. “Remember when you saw your ill-chosen paramour strung up against that globe? Weak, helpless, and dying? That was me, my doing, I'm going to kill him because you made him weak. It’s your fault, your influence has corrupted him!”

           Jack’s light blue eyes seemed to darken into a hard blue. He surged to his feet, all weariness forgotten. “Don’t you fucking touch him!” His angry words jarred horribly in the cold air with the nightmares sudden maniacal laugh of derision.

           “You see!!You SEE?!? You have already poisoned him, you’ve put your own words in to his very mouth! You-Ah… well, I guess that makes two of us.” The mare smiled insidiously. “But know this Jack Frost, his demise is your fault, his death is **on your hands**.”

 Jack felt a horrible jolt shoot through his entire body as an old memory tried to push through to the surface.

           The mare could see the reaction he had hoped for. It slowed its movements, hoping to lull his opponent into a lower state of vigilance. “It’s your fault, Jack. You lost control, and now he is going to die.”

           “Stop,” Jack could feel himself fighting the urge to shrink inward, away from the insidious words that seemed to touch so lightly the memories that haunted him.

“You might as well have plunged a dagger made of ice into his chest. Maybe," the beast continued softly, "maybe a part of you wanted it.”

          "No. No I," Jack's eyes shot upward."Not like that, never like that,"

           "After all, how could you enjoy the company of the one who dealt such pain and humiliation to you? How could you want to seek it out, unless for revenge? You wanted him dead, just like the others.”

            Jack’s pale lips parted in shock as he took a few steps back from the giant mare. _‘How could he have known?’_

The stallion could sense his internal discord. It paced a few steps nearer. “Murderer,”

          “No!” Jack couldn’t stop the way his eyes shut down, clenching in agony as the memories passed through his mind. ‘ _It’s my fault, it’s my fault!’_  

           A whooshing sound had Jack snapping his eyes open too late. A solid mass of black was barreling straight at him. The mare smashed into him, sending him spinning through the air, the staff held tightly in his fist.

           Jack hurtled towards the ground and forced his eyes opened. He saw the ground spinning crazily before him. He had only seconds to make a decision. After only a brief moment he let his staff slip from his fingers, hoping that it would remain whole when it landed.  A moment later, the air was forced from his lungs in a rush as he slammed into the hard ground.  He rolled on to his back, clutching his right arm in pain. Trying to keep his voice under control.

The mare lunged forward.

North and Tooth raced forward intending to stop the mares assault, while Bunny made his way as fast as he could towards Jack. 

           Jack could hear the others engage the mare, their angry shouts and its bellowing roar rang in his head, driving clarity further from him. He heard his name being called with such force and insistence that he felt compelled to open his eyes.  Strong arms turned him over and concerned green eyes came into view.

“Jack! Are you allright?!”

            Jack turned over trying to block out the noise, the fighting until he could find his head and put it back on his shoulders, to ease the throbbing pain he felt in its absence. _‘It’s my fault, it’s my fault!’_ Jack could feeel the memory of the terror closing in on him, could remember the cool wetnesss that had flowed from his eyes, the warm wetness that had coated his hands and knees.

           Jack’s breath huffed out in pained gasps, but when Bunny grabbed onto his hand, he held tightly and was able to push the images from his mind. He looked up and saw the half destroyed wall of ice only a few feet in front of him. _‘If I had crashed into that…’_ his eyes lingered on the five inch thick spikes that peppered the wall. He pushed himself up to his knees.

“Here” Bunny helped him up to his feet.

           Jack held onto his right arm that was throbbing with pain, hoping to keep it from being jostled. He glanced around quickly and spotted his staff, some twenty feet away. He nodded in its direction “I need to recover, grab my staff for me will you?”

“Where are you going?”

Jack started walking towards the wall of ice, ”to recover.”

“Look out!!”

Jack and Bunny turned at the same instant the mare smashed into the ground between them, its heavy weight enough to send clods of dirt flying in every direction.

Jack and Bunny leaped away from the creature.

           The mares tail elongated to stretched out into thin sharpened whips as it turned towards its intended victim. “Where do you think you are going?” It stepped forward menacingly. “Your efforts are useless. No matter how long you struggle, the end result will be the same.”

Jack was still several feet from the mare. What he needed was time to recover,

“Jack!”

North and the others surrounded the mare waiting for an opportunity to strike.

           The mares numerous tail strands slammed into the ground creating deep gouges in the earth; forcing the guardians back.

Jack took this opportunity to fly back against the wall of ice. He settled his hand on it as the clods of dirt came raining back down.

           “He is going to die because you have corrupted him, it’s your fault. And why should it matter to you?” The nightmare stared into Jack’s eyes and spoke to his mind, _‘What does one more murder mean to you?’_

           Yellow eyes held Jack in place as his breath was stolen from him. Jack could feel his legs bending, as anguish seemed to wash through him. The double timber of its voice seemed to push him down into the ground.

Suddenly the mare twisted to the side breaking their contact.

           North had lunged forward in an attack.

Tooth soon followed suit.

           “Jack!”

He looked up and say Bunny holding his staff.

           Bunny moved forward and Jack did the same, stretching out his right arm gauging the exact levels of pain that had lessened in his arm.

The mare saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and pulled a 180. Its large hooves missing Tooth but catching North in the gut.  It’s teeth snapped out missing Bunny by inches.

         Bunny had to throw himself back, but managed to throw the staff towards Jack, who caught it with one hand. 

Jack clutched the staff gratefully and turned to face the enemy.

“You still have the will to defy me? Even after so carelessly accruing so much death and damage?”

           Jack had to fight through the words that hung heavily around his shoulders, weighing him down. _‘I have to save them, I can’t have anyone else’s blood on my hands again.’_ The mares words wormed into his mind, gripping his heart, pulling him down into the familiar hole of self blame. He knew he had to get out, to get away from it, or he would die. Knew that he had to save them, had to try. _‘If I don’t do something now, take this beast down, it will devour them all, Bunny, North, Tooth and Pitch… I can’t let them die!’_

           He slashed his staff through the air causing hard hail to strike the ground as his emotions began to get the better of him. “Why should he have to die!? Because he was turning from you even in such small and utterly insignificant amounts?”

           “Small? Insignificant?” The nightmare seemed to expand outward doubling, tripling its size, “We were fine before you came. I own Pitch Black! He belongs to us– To darkness! He is not meant to be connected to anything. A creature like you cannot be allowed to lay your hands on him so impudently.”

“He belongs to himself! Who are you to say any different?”

           Pitch  was crouched behind the wall of ice listening to the yelling going back and forth. He felt such an outrage that he never had before. ‘ _It’s_ _like my own tools think they could own me.’_ but under the anger and shock there was no small amount of something that was close to happiness. Jack was defending him. He was trying to save his life. _‘That must mean he harbors some sort of warmth for me...’_ Pitch didn’t bother to deny that he wanted it. ‘ _To be cared for...’_ he thought.

            The mare stamped it’s heavy hooves emphatically. “I am his power, when he began to choose you over me, he forfeit allright to control me, he was mine to do with. His world is mine to build, mine to create and mine to destroy.”

           Jack paused as the words rang a bell in the back of his mind. _‘Pitch had said something like that to me once…’_ a thought occurred to him. _‘Was it Pitch who told me that, or was it the nightmare’s influence speaking through him?’_

           Pitch too recalled his earlier words. He was struck to the bone by how closely they coincided. A little nagging sensation seemed to ring in the back of his mind, but he choose to ignore it as the mare began speaking again.

                 “No matter what you do, he is already as good as dead. I am going to kill you then when the despair in his heart over whelms him, I will finish him off and force him to become what he was meant to be.” The nightmares voice split into a deep base and a high soprano and seemed to twist around their minds and hearts. “The Nightmare King.” The voice seemed to squeeze the courage from their hearts, the strength from their limbs and their will to fight from their minds.

           Jack gripped his staff tightly in his hands looking at the giant nightmare with hate. While the others seemed to struggle under the influence of the nightmares words, Jack stepped forward unfettered by the demonic accent underlying the nightmares voice.

           Pitch gripped the edge of the ice wall harshly. He recognized that double timbre in the mare’s voice. That creepiness that had crawled along his skin before seemed to affect him little now that his mind was so engaged with protecting Jack but he would give it some thought later. He reached out his hand again and tried to mentally rip the mare in half.

           The mare stumbled to the left as the lower half of his body seemed to shift violently to the right. “What are you doing?!”

Jack could make no reply because he had done nothing.

           The nightmare whinnies shrilly and hundreds of nightmares burst forth from between the shadows of the trees.

Jack narrows his eyes “If this is between you and me, let it be between you and me.”

            “No. I’ve seen how your affection for others clouds your minds. I’ve tried to warn him but he refused to listen, so now I'm going to take that same power you used to destroy him, and destroy you with it.”

           Pitch cringed as his earlier thoughts were spoken aloud to the very person he wanted least to hear them.

“This will not make him unhappy,” Jack said, “you are vastly overestimating his opinion of me!”

          _‘You fool!’_ Pitch thought angrily.

“You fool!” screamed the nightmare unconsciously echoing Pitch’s exact thoughts.

            Jack stared at the venom in its voice. “He doesn’t-”

“That’s enough!! Come! Meet your death!”


	27. Tainted

            Jack was unprepared as the giant beast lunged towards him once more. In a panic he automatically shot  a bolt of blue ice at the beast who dodged it easily. The wind scooped him up at his command and flew him high above the ground, streaking away from Burgess. But he could hear the beast catching up to him.

          Somewhere over the mid Atlantic he paused. The iron grey water moved miles beneath him as he hovered in the air.  Jack saw the angry gallop of the dark horse moving quickly towards him.

Jack gripped his staff in both hands, and felt the power surrounding him. _‘I can do this, I just need to think about how.’_

          The nightmare closes in with only forty feet to go, when suddenly, right out of its chest a hundred hands burst out, reaching for him. Jack swings his staff before him, sending a rectangular shield of ice at the creature.

          The black hands reached out and smashed into the ice, shattering it into a million ice chips, and imbedding them in their outstretched hands. A shrill whinny of anger screamed in his eardrums, causing him to clamp his hands over them. Jack reached for the stars above him and the wind scooped him up towards the sky. Jack looked back down and saw the mare looking for him.

Jack felt his heart race as he pointed his staff directly at the mare. He gathered the energy into his staff and fired it all at the creature below him.

          The mare stilled as a strange whooshing sound came at it. suddenly its leg muscles bunched together, and it leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding the giant spear of ice that sank into the ocean displacing thousands of gallons of water.

          The mare centered its bright eyes on the shocked face of Jack frost.  “There **you** **ARE!!”**

The mare stood on its hind feet and twisted to face Jack then shot upward.

          Jack stared at the nightmare with fear reaching for his heart and when it  grabbed hold- he bolted.

Jack flew back towards burgess with the mare nipping at his heels. _‘What was I thinking? I can’t take this thing on alone, its huge!’_

          Back in burgess, Pitch was busily slicking through his own soldiers. He was increasingly annoyed having to cut down the army that he had so carefully created. At first, he had been angry with how weak they were, but then he noticed, that the mares around him were not putting up much of a fight, but the ones around the guardians were. _‘Stand down!’_ He repeated his command over and over again .trying to get a gtip on his power. He could feel it through them, but he still couldn’t command it.

          Pitch could sense the mares return, and after slicing through a few more of his own soldiers, retreated once more behind the ice wall to focus his attention. He looked up into the sky and saw Jack streaking through the sky ahead of the mare.

Pitch immediately focused his mind on slowing the mares fast approach. Hoping to give Jack his chance to cut it down.

The mare could instantly feel the restraints and knew it was someone nearby affecting him.

          The mare whinnied once and the nightmares surrounding Pitch attacked. They seemed slightly reluctant to attack Pitch. But they manage to occupy his attention enough to force him to stop impeding the mare.

The mare could sense when the restriction was removed and charged full speed towards his prey.

Jack threw himself down, and rolled across the empty air, then pushed back to his feet, facing the furious mare.

          The nightmare pivoted quickly to face his elusive opponent. “Why do you constantly run from me?! I am going to catch hold of you sooner or later, you might as well stand there and at least try to defend yourself.” The beast paused, “You hold back because you are afraid destroying me will destroy him. Even now, when you are staring your very death in the face you still yield to your feelings! Are you so blinded that you would be willing to get yourself killed to protect another!? You must fight!  

          The mare continued as Jack made no response. “Know this, destroying me will do nothing to Pitch Black.” The beast eyed Jack’s suddenly still form. “Does that comfort you? Give you the resolve to fight instead of this pussyfooting around? I fucking hope so…” The mare ran forward.

          Jack watched its approach and wanted to fight back, but was it speaking the truth? The beast may have come out of nowhere, have centered its target on him, but how could it have known the very reason he had been holding back?  Jack gripped the staff as he commanded another wall of wind to crash into the beast’s side.

          The mare throws up another shield  of sand to block the wind and moves forward, its bright eyes centered on Jack.

Jack felt a tingle of alarm down his spine and chanced a quick look behind him.

          He gasped, a monstrous wall of sand was falling down towards him. eighty feet high, a hundred feet wide. His head arched back to catch sight of the top of the wall.  The mares insane laughter crashed into his chest.  He brought his staff up but didn’t know what to do with it. How could he overcome such odds? He hesitated, he panicked as the wall fell down over him.  He stepped back then bolted down away from the wall of death.

          Suddenly the mare appeared before him, a wild light in its eyes as it ran forward.

Jack halted and turned back, away from the creature so intent on killing him, and saw the wall almost upon him. He turned once more caught between the wall and the mare.

          His lips parted in a silent gasp, before the mare plowed into him. Blood flew from his mouth as the wall of darkness fell over them both.

The wall fell flat covering them both, then melted away. Like a black cloud in the wake of a powerful wind.

          When the sand cleared, the mare stood tall in the grey sky, looking down at his enemy, with victory.

Jack was wrapped in a tight grip of sand, very similar to the fist of sand that Pitch had once imprisoned him with.

          Jack shook the sand from his head and the ringing from his ears, he looked up into the air and saw the nightmare walking towards him. panic tried to grab hold of him, but he managed to hold his form steady from the shakes that wanted to travel up and down his spine.

Jack gripped the staff in his hand tightly _. ‘What should  I do? What can I do?’_

          The mare was inches from his face, its hot breath brushed softly against his face. “This is the only outcome. This is the only way.  How could it have ended otherwise? While I don’t mind destroying you, I did not want to hurt him, but I have to, he has forgotten who he is, what his purpose is, while you have never known.”

          Jack could feel the staff slipping from his fingers, “I know what his purpose is.”

“Do you dare,” The mares eyes lit up with anger as a foreleg morphed into a hand and gripped Jack by the throat. “Do you _dare_ to claim such a thing!?”

          The sand around him tightened forcing the staff to slip from between his fingers. _‘No!’_   The sand around his body was crushing him. He couldn’t breathe as the staff fell from his hand towards the ground.

          “You brash, and brazen youth, you know nothing about him. The only thing you know about him are his skills in a bed. But perhaps that is enough for you?” It’s voice gentled,  “Perhaps that’s all you need to know,” The mare morphed into Pitch's likeness. “Perhaps that’s all you care to know,” The phantom Pitch stepped close and sank its hands into the sand between them.

Jack gasped as he felt strong touches on his manhood. “Stop-”

          “Why? I know you enjoy it.”

“It’s not the same! I don’t want you!”

          “But you want Pitch? What a fucking liar!”

“I-I don’t”

          “No no, Jack it’s not “I- I don’t,” its “Uhh, Uhh yes” ”

Jack couldn’t help the sound that came from his mouth as the hands around him tightened and shifted.

          The fake Pitch  leaned in close, “Do you have any idea the enormous amount of power and control I have over you?  I am almost tempted to ride you myself just to see what all the fuss was about. but it doesn’t matter, you don’t matter.”

          Jacks eyes were sealed closed, but he had no such protection for his ears. _‘You don’t matter. you don’t matter.’_ it replayed in his mind like record player. Old but still able to get the message across clearly.

A memory of himself and Pitch standing on a snowy hilltop, popped into his mind, their hands were connected, _‘of course you’re not worthless!’_

_‘Was it all a lie? ‘_

_“ ‘ You are not weak, or undeserving, or spineless, or stupid. I choose you, which means you have great value,’ “_

_‘Am I nothing to him? ‘_

_“ ‘I do not, not care for you’ “_

_‘Was it all just me? Was I so desperate for connections that I was taken in by  Pitch? Or was it genuine concern that he showed when he saved me from the desert?  Was it an honest attempt to apologize when he gave me chocolate? Was it an honest effort to make me happy when he told me to leave? Was it all a lie?_ ’

The fake Pitch let go of Jack and studied him and his silent submission.

          “Do you understand now?” It morphed back into its original form. “He never cared for you, he just wanted your body. Once you are gone, he will revert back to his own ways. Ways that are not tainted by you.

          Jack opened his eyes. “Tainted,”

The mare watched him suspiciously.

          “Wasn’t that what you said? Tainted?” Jack raised his head. “Well I guess we were both guilty of that. Maybe I tainted him with some kindness, maybe he tainted me with some hate.” Jack looked up into the mares widened eyes. “Maybe he tainted me with a lot of hate.”

The mare lunged forward too late, Jack called on the wind and felt it wiggle between him and the sand, giving him safe passage to slip out of its tight grip.

          Jack heard a loud snapping sound as the mares jaws closed over his head. Jack zoomed on the back of the wind. He dove straight down and spotted his staff sticking up out of a snow bank. He reached out one hand and the staff flew up to connect with his open palm.

          Jack curled his fingers around it gratefully, then dropped on the ground calmly waiting for the beast to approach.

The mare halted in suspicion when he saw Jack waiting for it. The beast landed on the ground, prancing back and forth before him. Then moved forward once more.

          Jack widened his stance. “Maybe nobody was tainted, Maybe we were just changed. It’s not like it was before, I'm different, he is different.”

“No he’s not, you have just become privy to facets of his personality that he already had, nothing about his fundamental self has changed,”

          Jack paused. “Your right. He has not changed. He has always been this way. You need to accept it.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

          “You said it yourself, nothing about his fundamental self has changed. His environment has. He has gone from being hated and despised, to being able to hold an actual conversation.  His surroundings have changed, the hidden parts of his personality have finally been able to come forth.  You need to accept that this is who he is. “

          The mare was shaking with rage. Its nostrils flared angrily. “Enough of this! You will die, and he will become what he was meant to be, if I have to drag him there kicking and screaming myself.”

          Jack held onto his staff with both hands, knees slightly bent. A ready smile on his face for his enemy. “Well then, let’s have some fun.”


	28. The Battle

           The nightmares white hot eyes narrowed in suspicion at the frostlings suddenly eager attitude which only served to increase its already agitated state.

            Jack had to work hard to keep the smile hitched on his face, as he watched the giant mare. The smile remained unshaken but the blood in his veins pumped quickly from his bravado. _‘When in doubt, bluff it out.’_ Bunny's voice seemed to give him some hope, and gave his tongue much freedom as he spoke to the mare. But even as his words came out he realized the truth of them. He realized that Pitch was someone worthy of protection. defeating this mare was going to be difficult, probably one of the most difficult things he had ever done. He knew that it was much more powerful than himself but he had to keep his family safe. He gripped his staff trying to find some measure of reassurance in its proximity.

Suddenly the mare dived for Jack, its black hooves digging into the air, as it lunged forward.

Instead of calling on the wind to move him, Jack simply let himself drop.

He fell like a stone as the mare whipped past him. Jack swung his staff up, shooting an icy spike at the mares underbelly.

“WIND!”

The mares triumphant dodge was drowned out by the sound of wind as it rushed him away from the mare.

“What I need is some kind of direct attack, I'm not going to beat it just by pushing it around with the wind.”

           Unease slipped into his mind as he recalled the sudden power he had unleashed after sandy’s death. _‘If I could only tap into that,’_ But how? both instances he hadn’t done it on purpose,  he wasn’t thinking clearly, he had just been so angry. He could recall the way the power had built up in his body so rapidly. How he had to force it out or be torn to pieces from the inside out. _‘If I hadn’t jumped towards Pitch, if I had stayed in the sleigh-who knows what might have happened…‘_

He cringed at what could have been. He could hear the mare making its comeback, and shot backward, putting distance between the pair of them.

           The truth of the matter is that Jack was afraid that power might be connected with the darker power. Both seemed to be channeled through his hate and rage. _‘I need power to defeat this creature. But can I control it safely? Do I dare to try it?’_

Jack hung in the air indecision holding him steady.

The mare pounded after him, rage pumping his legs faster, he plunged forward needing to kill- to decimate his enemy.

           Both instances of Jacks outbursts of power, involved high emotions. Suddenly a thought occurred to him. He realized a very important difference between both instances of his power. When he lost control in that back alley, he was filled with pain, and hate and sorrow. With Pitch, he had been filled with hate and revenge; he wanted to rip apart the thing that had wounded his family. But there was something different some other emotion too. There was an implacable determination to never allow it to happen again. To never let any harm come to his family ever again. He wanted to protect them. needed to…

           A sharp whinny broke through his concentration, Jack hurled himself to the left just avoiding the mares giant teeth as they snapped down behind him.  
I need time to focus- “Wind!”

           The wind bunched together like a giant fist and slammed into the mare. Jacks mouth gaped open in disbelief as the shocked mare was hurtled back some eighty feet.

            _‘–How? How did– ’_ Jack quickly cleared the surprise from his mind and bolstered by the results of his increased concentration, refocused on what he needed to do.  
Jack blocked out the mares continued shrieks of rage as the wind held back the beasts forward motion.

The Guardians stood upon the ground fighting with the masses, snatching peeks at the sky when they could.

North saw Jack dive down and heard the mares scream of rage as it missed again. He turned back to his own enemies.

Nunny slashed at another mare then quickly looked up and saw Jack hanging motionless in the air while the mare was being driven back.

           Tooth slid her swords through the air in a graceful arc before slashing down into the hide of another mare. She stilled for only a moment before going back on the offensive. ‘ _The winds are changing… Jack-’_

Jack could feel sharp tingles began to run down his arms and build in his fingertips; it hurt, but he grit his teeth and focused on channeling the power through his hands.

Small sparks of blue began to radiate from his body, crackling out in sudden bursts of color.

The wind picked up, Jack could feel the air around him begin to change direction. It seemed to condense together while moving very slowly.

           The pain in his fingertips increased, and was inching up past his knuckles. The pain began to gnaw at his concentration letting more and more little cracks of fear and uncertainty slip in. He knew if he wanted to control the power he needed to have positive emotions, using rage and pain to guide his attacks was dangerous.

           He tried to calm his mind be breathing slower, and it seemed to work. He filled his head with images of the those he cared about, the Guardians, Jamie, his sister, and even Pitch. He filled himself up with the desire to protect them.

The pain in his fingertips were approaching his palms, the staff clutched in his right hand was tingling.

It hurt.

           But then the power surged up in waves, and it felt good. The power filling him smothered out the sharp tingles of pain that splintered into his fingertips. It seemed to buoy him up in the air. Jack breathed deeply, trying to keep his focus as the pain suddenly increased again.

The pain and power warred for dominance. Each increasing until his concentration was held together by a thread.

           It was too much, too much power, too much pain. The energy crackling outside of his body, the humming of it in his bones. It was too much. His arms were stiff with the power that was filling them, he wrenched his shoulders forward and clapped his hands together.

           A crack rolled through the sky like thunder. Blue light blazed between his hands, shooting out of his fingertips. The edge of the light nearest the nightmare splintered reaching out with thousands of little lightning bolts, reaching for the nightmare.

The mare whinnied shrilly at the challenge and ran forward blowing up to twice its size; black and blue intermingled, fighting for dominance.

Jack grimaced at the pain and sucked in a harsh breath. “HAAAAAAHHH!!” He forced everything he had out through his hands and into his attack.

The light surged forward, bolstered by Jack’s push of power. The blue eating up the black, moving up towards the mares neck.

Jack leapt up into the sky, his staff covered with freezing ice as he swung it high over his head.

The mare pranced backwards as the blue latched onto its sides, forcing it to maintain its position.

           Jack reached the height of his arch and fell back down towards the mare. His staff flashed a brilliant shade of blue as thick ice formed along the entire length of his staff, growing taller and smoother, its bottom border thinning into a wicked edge.

The mare looked up, its yellow eyes growing wide as his opponent staff morphed into a deadly blade of ice.

           Jack’s knees came up as he swung the ice sword with all its might, down onto the nightmares head, cleaving the beast in two. The world seemed frozen for one breathless moment, then a vacuum of wind seemed to form between the two separate pieces.

           The blue lightning that had been holding the mare still, suddenly rushed forward, quickly ensnaring the separate pieces, and drawing them together, then burst apart into a thick mass of finely grained sand, soft as flour but sharp as glass. The concussion of wind sent the wave of sand ballooning out to the right while rocketing Jack out to the left of the sky.

           Tooth stood on the ground with her hands in front of her chest, eyes locked on the mare as the two separate pieces burst apart She felt the shift in wind, and cried out in warning to the others. “North! Bunny! Grab onto something, Quick!” She quickly wrapped her arm around the first tree she saw.

North locked both arms around a tree trunk and gazed up at Jack

Bunny's eyes latched onto Jack as his body flew back from the shock of air. ”Jack!”

“He’s fine! Grab a hold of something! Bunn- Damn it,” Tooth rushed Bunny, dragging him towards the closest tree.

Bunny came back to his senses and wrapped his arm around the trunk while Tooth hopped up in the branches intertwining herself with them.

All three Guardians grit their teeth as the wave of air bowled over them. Jack was uppermost in their thoughts.

           Jack felt the shock of wind shove him back, but he kept his eyes on what was once the mare as long as he could. ‘ _Is it gone? Is it over?’_ There was no distinguishable form he could make out, just a wave of sand falling out from the sky.

No angry trumpeting, no shrill whinnies of hate and anger.

Jack felt boneless. Every inch of his body sagged against the force of the wind.

           Jack tried to at least sit up, but quit after only a brief struggle. He lay back against the air panting; then he smiled. _‘I did it,'_ The wind cradled him as the original push of air diminished. _‘I did it,’_

           Pitch stood open mouthed as Jack began his descent from the sky. Already he could feel the power settling back in his body. He stood up straight and flexed his hand. At once a large ball of sand formed, then smoothed out at his command. He turned quickly and shot it out towards a nearby tree. When the tree sliced neatly in two he smiled.

Pitch turned back towards the mares that had been badgering him. He looked into their yellow eyes _‘Be gone.’_ As one, the mares vanished.

_'…About fucking time.'_

           Pitch turned his attention back to Jack as he floated like a leaf, back and forth in the air, down towards the ground.  
 _‘I had no idea such strength resided in him.’_ Pitch thought about all the times Jack had fought him, how easy it had been to beat down Jack’s power, only to realize now, how unnecessarily easy he had been on him.

He was still for a few moments, "His capacity for stamina may be much greater than I gave him credit for..." The smile on his face was a terrifying sight to behold.

 The cold air wrapped itself around Jack, already working to heal him on his descent.

He pulled his eyes open and saw the sky full of fat flakes of snow drifting down with him. _'I did it~!'_

"Jack! Jack!" The three Guardians ran towards him as he drifted towards the snow covered ground… and the many nightmares that stood upon it.


	29. Aftermath

             Bunny reaches him first and picks him up bodily embracing him tightly. North and Tooth follow right behind. Bunny releases Jack and places a paw on his shoulder, carefully scrutinizing him. "Are you okay?" He asked, "I don’t see any bleeding, nor any broken bones," Bunny began to answer his own question in a methodical sort of way.

North playfully shoved bunny out of the way. "Jack that was wonderful! When did you learn to do that?"

Jack just shrugged, wincing slightly at the tension in his shoulders.

The threesome were instantly on the alert.

“What is it?”

“Are you hurt?”

“Why didn’t you say anything!”

“He should sit down-”

“No no, he should stand up and stretch it out.”

“Bunny would you-“

“Here mate sit down,” 

Jack jumped up into the air, catching hold of the wind and hung there, legs tucked up indignantly “One at a time, one at a time!”

            Pitch strands there watching the Guardian’s check him over. He realized that they were doing exactly what he wanted to do. Only he kept telling himself that he couldn’t. _‘Why not?’_ He wondered _‘I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, where ever I want. Right?’_ Most of the reasons he had for refusing his happiness with Jack Frost had steadily been worn away. What excuses did he have left?

            Bunny, North and Tooth, darted back and forth determined to decide upon the best course of action for Jack’s immediate relief of pain. He lowered himself gently into a clearing behind North and Tooth. Bunny turned back towards the winter spite. He laid one paw on Jack’s shoulder “Jack, are you okay?”

“Yeah, just a little winded,” Jack’s injuries seemed already to be healing.

Pitch felt a vein pop in his head as he watched them talking amiably together. _‘It’s not for me?’_ he asked himself.

North could see it in Jack’s eyes, the sadness. “Something is not right Jack, what is it?”

            Pitch looked at Jack _‘he looks sad…’_ His heart beat faster. He suddenly recalled the insults he had endured while Jack was with him beneath the cave. _'Maybe he feels guilty- maybe he’ll come back looking for me.'_

Jack looked up at them, ‘Because Pitch is probably dead’ he looked back down. “Nothing.”

Bunny grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently. “You never were a very great liar Jack, tell the truth.”

Jack looked up again but his eyes were caught by the black mass of glittering sand before him. ‘What will happen now, both Pitch and the leading nightmare were gone, would they just disappear?’

            North put his hands on Jack’s shoulder “Stay here and rest. We will leave as soon as these nightmares are taken care of. Without their master around they should be easy pickings.”

Pitch raised an eyebrow and confidently flexed his powers.

Crack!

            There was an explosion from the nightmares. As one the nightmares instantly seemed to be sliced in half severing their lower halves from their upper halves. Then they melted away into nothing.

The Guardian’s could see the whole clearing through the suddenly clear air. All turned their attention to a lone figure, wrapped in a black cloak.

            Pitch stood as all eyes turned towards him, black sand coiled behind him. Bunny placed on paw on jacks chest and shoved him back as he and the other Guardian’s closed ranks in front of him. Their eyes were hard and determined.

Pitch’s eyes found Frost and his repaired staff beyond each of the Guardian’s, the furthest away from him. Gold eyes locked with blue; “YOU! Where in the hell do you think you are going?”

“You’re alive!” Everyone turned at the happy voice. Jack swallowed nervously under their sudden close scrutiny.

“Get over here.” Pitch snarled.

“No.” he said happily unable to keep the smile and relief from showing on his face.

            ‘At least that part of him wasn’t influenced by that psycho nightmare.’ Pitch ignored the worry that vanished from his shoulders. “No?” Pitch asked dangerously soft, black sand uncurled around him in flowing coils.

Bunny and North reacted immediately. Bunnymund’s boomerang whistled through the air as North charged forward.

A clap of cold was sent throughout the clearing. North was brought to a sudden halt and looked down to see his black boots encased in a solid foot of ice, holding him securely to the ground.

Jack appeared in between them suddenly with his back to Pitch as a boomerang fell to the ground in a hunk of ice.

“Back off.” All eyes turned in astonishment to Jack, who had spoken in such a serious tone.

            Pitch crossed his arms and smiled at the Guardian’s while his mind ran over the fact that he had just been defended. Again. It was a strange sensation. But not altogether unpleasant. _‘It is amazing how many new things I have experienced with Frost so far. How many more might there be in the future?’_ He smiled as he recalled some of their rather louder experiences. _‘I'm sure Jack is at least, curious about them too.’_

Unlike North, Bunny was not in the least willing to give up his attack. “Pitch was going to--”

“Do I look as if I am in any danger?” His eyes accused them all. “Back off!” he thundered.

            North lowered his weapons marginally as he looked into Jack’s eyes. He turned towards Bunny, “We must give him chance.” He looked up at them both. “Apologies for our ill-timed but natural actions.”

Jack cracked the ice holding North to the ground and the ice around Bunny's boomerang,

Jack sought Tooth’s eyes and walked to her, after carefully giving each person there a hard look. Babytooth settled on her captain’s shoulder chirping her short greeting..

Jack held his hand out and Babytooth jumped into his hand happily enough. Jack rubbed her head fondly. “Pitch let her go Tooth. He could have killed her, but he didn’t. “

“What about all the rest of them?”

“They live.” Pitch said.

“You lie.”

            “It’s true Tooth, I’ve seen them. If you want we can go to them right now.” She gazed into Jack’s earnest eyes. For a moment then fluttered over to North, “Give me a globe?” North wordlessly hands her one. She fluttered back to Jack and stood close to him, her eyes fell upon Pitch with all the condemnation of an avenging angel. “Move.” she snarled at Pitch  
Pitch raised an eyebrow, and Jack rolled his eyes, “Pitch?” The nightmare king rolled his own eyes, bowed mockingly and sauntered off to the right. Jack glanced back at the two Guardian’s and Pitch. “Don’t kill each other. I mean it.” He glared at both Bunny and Pitch while reserving a little less harsher look for North. “I mean it.” Jack and Tooth disappeared beneath the ground.

            Jack led her to the cages; tears filed her eyes as her fairies chirped excitedly. Jack turned to her. “Open the portal, I'll open the cages.” Tooth turned and shook the globe gently and quickly muttered “North pole.” As the flakes in the snow globe settled a miniature version of North's work shop appeared, she threw it into the air and when it hit the ground a swirling white portal appeared.

            Jack meanwhile, had flown up and gotten the first two cages open, “Everybody pile on.” The fairies looked around anxiously, and then trooped up Jack’s arms, settled in his hair, off his ears, and clung to every inch of him they could, as they pointed to the other cages urging him to open more, he had to reassure them many times that he would be back.

He floated carefully to the ground as not to jostle any of them from their precarious hold, he landed right in front of Tooth as she was about to fly up.

            She blinked once, then burst out laughing at Jack, “You look like a fairy, with all those shiny green feathers on you.” Jack smiled back, and walked to the portal, he watched them file off his arms and fling themselves towards their captain. He watched as Tooth touched each one fondly then nudged them towards the portal. He turned to Tooth and took her hands in his own. “I'm really allright Tooth.”

Her smile dropped from her face. “It’s not right Jack that you should love him.”

He choked as Tooth’s words fell on his ears. His face turned pink. “L-l-l-love him? Who said I loved him? I don’t– you know,”

            Tooth turned towards him with surprise “I thought that was what you were fighting for? Why you ran away, why you never came back, why you defended him, why you still defend him. What other reason could there be?”

“I ran away because I was being held against my will. I defend him because it is wrong to condemn him so callously.”

“Because there was so little to condemn him for?”

“If this is about Sandy–”

“Not just about him, about everything that defines Pitch Black.”

“What do you know about him, huh?”

“We need to talk about this. When we get back well have to discuss this with…Jack?”

Jack had gone strangely silent. “When I, get back. …Just like that Tooth? I can’t forget everything that happened.”

“Jack! We know we were wrong to imprison you, and were sorry, don’t leave because of one mistake!”

“I'm not mad, I'm not mad!” He assured her hastily as tears began to gather at the corner of her eyes.

“Then what is it? Do you really want to stay with Pitch?”

            Jack again was silent as he pondered his answer. The first response that came to his head was a 78 percent yes. Followed quickly by a 28 percent no. “He doesn’t want me to stay,” he whispered. “and it hurts- to know that he has some regard for me but still doesn’t want to be near me.”

“But why would you want to in the first place? What could possibly tempt you?”

“It’s not that I have an overwhelming desire to stay here, it’s just that I don’t have an overwhelming desire to, not stay here. but I want to more than I don’t.”

Tooth continued to look skeptical.

            “He’s not that bad, but, I mean just because he’s, not evil like I thought, not even actually all that mean….And sure he only gives children fear to protect them…, and has saved my life and suffered a great deal…and….” his face tinted a darker shade of pink. _‘Stay here with Pitch Black, just, just stay with him? Can I?’_

Tooth could only stare at Jack as he blushed harder. “I mean Pitch, Pitch Black! Jack what were you thinking!”

Jack quickly pulled himself out of his thoughts. “I've seen the evil that he inflicted, but its different now, Pitch is different.”

“How can you protect him after what he has done? He killed Sandy, our friend!”

            “Tooth--” Jack stopped and shook his head. “Let’s just get these fairies out of here; we can talk about this later.” Tooth looked ready to protest. “I don’t want to have to explain myself three different times, but we can all talk about this if it will make you feel better.” His eyes narrowed, “But don’t, any of you think I will stand for being shoved in another fucking hole.”

Tooth smiled sheepishly, “I am sorry about that. We were worried about you! You just, flipped a complete 180, what were we supposed to think? It was bewildering.” 

Jack patted her shoulder and smiled.

            They worked in silence after that and managed to send all the fairies off to the pole. Tooth scooped Babytooth off her shoulder and sent her with the troops back to the pole. When she stepped through. Tooth, and Jack both turned back towards the entryway.

            Pitch watched as they both ascended from the ground. Jack turned his head and catching Pitch’s eye and gave him a small smile. Pitch felt a slight stab of happiness in his heart. He didn’t bother examining his exact reasons for the strange new sensations that were coming at more frequent intervals as his prolonged exposure to Frost. There was no point to it. He knew exactly what they meant, even if he couldn’t quite say it out loud.

            Jack watches the way Tooth looks around cautiously. North and Bunny are watching him relived they both came out unharmed. Jack stretches unassumingly then rights himself and glances over to Pitch and sees him running his thumb along his lips. He viciously slams down on an exasperated smile. “Really?” He asks him.

Pitch rakes his eyes over Jack’s form and shrugged unrepentant. “it’s not my fucking fault.”

Jack fights the urge to chuckle then went ahead and let it out.

            Pitch straightened in surprise. _‘He laughed,’_ Pitch suddenly feels a little shot of fear from him. ‘What in the hell is it now?’ It was another kind of fear, gentler but also sharper…somehow. It had uncertainties and hopes mixed in.

Jack shakes his head in disbelief of his decision. He turns to Tooth and pulls out the tube of teeth and hands it back to her. “For safekeeping” he said. “I don’t need them anymore.”

Tooth glanced back one more time to Pitch and then laid a delicate hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Are you sure? Are you really sure about this?”

He nodded quickly. He leaned close to Tooth. “When you get back tell Bunny that the missing egg bombs are hidden in the bathroom cupboard on the third story, behind the flea medicine.“

North and Bunny stand a ways off near the edge of the woods they were speaking quietly glancing back at them.

            Pitch was however much closer, and engaged in watching Jack. His words had made him uneasy. It almost sounded as if Frost wouldn’t be seeing them for a while. Was he leaving? Pitch ignored the sadness in his chest, and instead focused on his determination on keeping Jack around or at least within and easy portal distance.

Tooth and Jack both glance over at Pitch. Jack smiled at the slightly troubled but determined expression on Pitch’s face.

Tooth turned to Jack and spoke quietly. “Doesn’t he know?”

“Not yet.”

            Tooth looked alarmed but after Jack nudged her along encouragingly, began to walk back towards the other Guardian’s. She had gone three or four steps when she turned back to Pitch and glared at him threateningly. “Not one fucking scratch! You understand!? When next we meet, there had better not be one single fucking scratch!”

Jack rolled his eyes and blushed. Tooth walked back to North and Bunny and began talking quietly, valiantly trying to occupy their attention.

            _‘Thanks Tooth, but I don’t think this is going to go over quietly.’_ Jack looked back at Pitch and had to hold back a laugh as Pitch, usually so calm and cool, suddenly dropped his jaw and paled. ‘Laughing at him would not be a good way to start this conversation! Do not laugh!’ He approached Pitch wondering how he would even broach such a subject?’ But it turns out he didn’t have to.

Jack’s nerves were broadcasted and Pitch having been so intimately connected with him, was able to catch hold of the different flavors quite easily.

He shook his head and said with threatening confidence “Oh no.”

Jack smiled wider “Oh yes.”

“No Frost, I tell you --absolutely not.”

The other Guardian’s turn to watch the spectacle.

Jack stalked towards Pitch who held his ground purely to save his pride.

“Didn’t you say you cared for m--”

“Silence!”

The other Guardian’s were now paying strict attention.

            Pitch was aiming for a degree of anonymity and spoke around the giant elephant discretely. “It’s not going to happen.” He glanced back at the other Guardian’s significantly. “I'm not going to fight battles endlessly to fulfill your foolish whims.”

Jack paused, “You’re right,” Pitch’s face showed a shadow of relief and then full on suspicion when Jack continued to smile.

Jack began to walk toward Pitch once more. “We need to fix something before we can move on.”

            Pitch studied Frost but could feel no fear. His mind snagged on one word that had his chest feeling a little lighter. ‘We…’ he struggled to bring his thoughts back in line. ‘What was that, apprehension he was feeling? No, it was…’

“We need to right a wrong.”

Pitch’s eyes went wide. “Seriously? You went to all that trouble to save me and now you are going to have me killed?”

It was Jack’s turn to be uncomfortable as the other Guardian’s eyes slammed into him the questions practically pelting out of their wide eyes.

Jack smiled innocently “Don’t worry, I'll protect you.”

“Jack, what in the name of Rachmaninoff, are you talking about?”North shouted.

Jack turned from Pitch’s annoyed face and smiled mischievously “Just dreams and bits of flying golden fluff…”


	30. The Return

A few months later…

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

 “It‘ll be over soon.”

           Pitch shook his head. Looking back on his life, he couldn’t say how it was he got to this point. He also couldn’t say that he entirely regretted it, but to be brought so low!!

 “You’re not going to get out of it”

 “This isn’t going to work.”

 “Yes it will you just have to believe you can do it.”

 Pitch snorted.

 “I believe you can.”

 Pitch face palmed and repeated. “I can’t believe I'm doing this.” He looked up between his dark fingers. “This is your fault Frost.”

             North, Tooth and Bunny stood a ways off, watching the pair uncomfortably as Pitch took a swipe at Jack. Bunny watched still not trusting his eyes when Jack easily ducked away, and then came back, laughing.

 “Please, just try.” Jack asked

 “This is going to cost you”

 “I'm sure we can work out something between the two of us that would satisfy you. No matter how long the negotiations might take.”

 Pitch’s eyes raked down Jack’s body as a smirk pulled at the corner of his lips. “Better watch that mouth of yours Frost, it’s going to get you in trouble one of these days.”

 Jack made a shooing kind of gesture.

            Pitch stood straight and resigned himself to the task of bringing dreams to children. He circled his hand in the air and black sand appeared shifting under his commanding fingertips. He manipulated the sand in his hands to form shapes, words, pictures; he tossed up some black sand and shaped it into a huge moth with sharp talons and spines down its legs.

 Jack laid a hand on Pitch’s shoulder, “That’s not bad… for a Godzilla movie. If this is going to work you have to create good dreams.”

 “I’ve never tried before,” Pitch murmured.

 “Pretend you are making dreams for m- never mind.”

 He looked away from Pitch's suddenly predatory eyes.

            Pitch thought for a moment then touched the monster moth and physically ran his fingers along the legs, smoothing them out, the talons shrinking back to dainty ends. Then lightly touched the wings and made them longer, elegant with thin spirals appearing in matching sets along the wings.

 Pitch released the happy looking creature, _‘Well that was a hassle.’_ He thought as he shook his hand out annoyed at the slight tingling. _‘This is going to hurt like hell by the end of the night.’_

 He turned to glare at Jack who was watching him work. “I'm going to exact full retribution.”

            Jack sighed happily ignoring Pitch's comment. “This is going to work.” He bent down and scooped up a ball of snow, forming it expertly into a snowball; he turned and lobed the snowball at Bunny.

  
Smack!

“Bull’s-eye!” he hollered as Bunny leapt around ready for an attack, only to see Jack laughing at him. He rolled his eyes and brushed the snow off his blue shoulder.

“We’re ready to start!” Jack called to them.

 “You couldn’t have said so with words?” Bunnymund grumbled.

            Bunny, North and Tooth approached as a group. All three were suspicious, but North had the most faith in them, both Pitch and Jack. The big man wanted to believe that Pitch could change, but Pitch Black, was… well? He was Pitch Black. The Bogeyman, the Nightmare King, their enemy from time out of mind. He surreptitiously examined Jack looking for any signs of wear and tear. What he didn’t know was that Bunny and Tooth were doing the exact same thing and none of them were being very surreptitious about it at all.

            Instead of being hurt, Jack was actually happy, comforted by the fact that they still cared for him. He smiled happily and was determined to reassure them. “Any scratches? He laughed thinking about the several scratches that were down his back and along his inner thigh. He gazed at them all tenderly. “This is going to work. I feel it,” Jack turned to look at North and adopted a poor Russian accent. “’in my belly.’”

 North couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips. He gave up, “Allright.” North strode forward, and wrapped Jack in a one arm hug. “Alright, let’s get started.”

           Jack remained near Pitch as butterflies floated around, occasionally dive bombing each other and bursting apart in the air. Pitch grinned as they collided together. thinking that he might as well get some enjoyment out of this ordeal.

 Jack saw it and laughed “Don’t look so happy about it, the kids will love it.”

            ‘Dive bombs…’ Pitch’s face was thoughtful. He lifted his hands and formed a miniature monster breaking apart a town throwing cars and smashing buildings. But it wasn’t scary, the monster was an overly large teddy bear and when it threw a car, it just zoomed up into the air and floated around. The broken building pieces floated upward and rebuilt themselves above the “monster’s” reach. The base of the upper town was wreathed in black clouds, and horses with wings appeared from above it. They stamped and flew around the spires of the city twisting them into the basic outlined of a caste.

Suddenly one of the horses got bigger its black eyes seemed to gain a yellowish tint.

 Bunny tensed, his eyes flickering back and forth from Pitch and the nightmare.

            Pitch used a thick wad of sand to push Jack back as the horse seemed to explode towards him. The sand shifted and gained mass as the monster horse that had imprisoned Pitch emerged as a whole piece from the flowing sand.

 The Guardian’s stood at the ready, between Jack and the giant nightmare horse.

 Pitch ignored their defensive stances and suspicious eyes. he looked upon the nightmare with scorn and ridicule, “Any last words?”

 “You will never be rid of me, I will win out over you.”

 Pitch immediately raised a hand in the air.

 “I will come ba-”

            Pitch waved a hand and the horse burst apart into petals that fell softly towards the ground. Each petal morphed into a strange shape, and as they combined they formed a biplane that was sent zooming through the sky.

            All was silent. Pitch turned towards the other Guardian’s not the least bit surprised to find them circled around Jack, ready to defend him, and each other.  
Pitch smirked “Is the fair maiden unhurt?”

 The Guardian’s stared until Jack’s sputtering startled them out of their surprise.

 “I didn’t ask for them to protect me!”

 “Ah, but you seem so eager to let them do it.”

 Jack mouthed words soundlessly. “Forget Sandy, I'm going to kill you myself.”

 Pitch half turned away from him, letting him see his smile of disbelief.

 “Oof!” Pitch felt something hurtle into him and found himself face down in the snow.

 “Jack!” Tooth called out in a terrified squeak.

 But Pitch and Jack were too caught up to hear her.

            Pitch grabbed Frost’s shoulders and flipped him over onto the ground. He reached down to imprison his hands but Jack was too quick; he rolled to the side and launched himself at Pitch again. He gripped one side off Pitch’s long cloak and wrapped it around Pitch as he tackled him to the ground.

            Pitch felt his arms strain under the tightness of the cloak. He couldn’t free it without using his sand. He looked up into Jack’s triumphant eyes and felt a small skittering of pleasure zoom up his spine.

            Jack became aware of the other Guardian’s watching them. He held Pitch's gaze for a second or two longer intent on his acknowledging the heat between them, before he got up and hauled Pitch to his feet

Pitch snobbishly brushed his shoulders off and turned back to the bi plane that was zooming around their heads, pulling very dangerous dives and twists.

 Jack used his staff to kick up a perfectly rounded snowball. He took quick aim and fired it at the back of Pitch's head.

 Black sand appeared and blocked the snowball from making contact. “We’ve got work to do, Frost. Stop messing around.”

 Jack sighed loudly and dramatically before he turned back to fetch his staff. He approached the other Guardian’s. “I'm fine I'm fine,” he said placatingly as he bent down to retrieve his staff.

Pitch meanwhile was recreating the butterfly, thinning the sand in some places to give it a different shade, _‘Like gray velvet.’_ Pitch nodded his head, satisfied with the end product.

            “Pitch…” North called unsure how to phrase what he wanted to say. Amazed that his power would enable them to get Sandy back; appalled that the power he had, was only used for evil; and astounded that he and Jack had such a seemingly good relationship. In the end his gratitude of having Sandman back overcame him, and he continued, “This is a good thing,” he began awkwardly. He paused aggravated that he was getting aggravated and plowed ahead, “perhaps when this is over, we will talk, yes?”

 Jack held his breath, _‘This was it.’_

            Pitch lowered his hands and unconsciously a small nightmare formed beneath them, he stroked the miniature horses back like a cat. Refusing to look at Jack’s pleading face, he gazed upon the big man evenly. “What exactly do you mean ‘talk’? About me, about this?” He waved a hand at the happy images floating through the air. “Make no mistake North, when this is done, I will go back to my proper job producing nightmares. The way they were meant to be. But…”

 The Guardian’s and Jack waited for his next words.

            He glanced towards Jack “I have begun to see that a world full of nothing but fear is not the answer.” He turned towards North fully. “You must likewise understand that a world filled with everything but fear is also not the answer.”

 The three Guardian’s looked uncomfortable but couldn’t deny the truth in his words.

            Pitch was determined to make them understand for once. “Picture this world.” He threw a hand out encompassing the whole of the snow covered scene surrounding them. “Full of wonder and hope and dreams. Colorful eggs, little fairies that come in the night and presents under a tree. Everyday has nothing to fear, just like the day before and just like the day after. If all a person knows is happiness, how can they tell, how can they know they are happy without anything to compare it to? No one could be truly happy, feel truly safe. I will never stop giving children nightmares.” He looked each Guardian in the eye. “Never. But I am willing to try for a level of…moderation.”

           Jack looked back from Pitch to the others and felt happy. Jack stood side by side with Pitch showing clearly his opinion on the matter. “We can do this but we have to work together, you have to give this a chance.” Jack took in their unsure faces with frustration. “Come on! What is it going to take?”

 Bunny shook his head, “Sorry mate, but Pitch has been our enemy for centuries. We can’t just forget all the wrongs he has done. I mean he murdered Sandy,”

 “He is also fixing that right now!”

 “Jack…”

 Frustrated, Jack kicked his staff up and turned to Pitch. He grabbed Pitch's hand and held it palm up. Ignoring the confused looks from the Guardian’s, he placed his staff into Pitch's hand.

 “Jack!?!”

            “I trust Pitch Black to do this.” He stepped forward between Pitch and the shocked Guardian’s, “This can work, we can have Sandy back and not fight these constant battles, but we have to trust each other, even if it is just a little!”

 North nodded his agreement then turned to Bunny and Tooth asking for their cooperation and consent.

            Bunny fingered his boomerangs but could feel that the right thing to do was quickly becoming the very thing he wanted least to do. _‘I can’t believe this is happening...’_ He slid his boomerangs back into his pouch and nodded.

            Tooth stood upon the ground, thoughts of her fairies filled her mind. She knew that Pitch was strong enough to take the three of them out. Permanently, but instead, was suffering (in his opinion, at least.) the indignity of creating happy dreams to bring back the only Guardian who could have beaten Pitch by himself. She couldn’t deny the honest tint it gave to his actions and words. Then of course there was Jack to consider. Babytooth trusted him, she herself trusted him. And Jack seemed to trust Pitch. She nodded “Okay.”

 Jack turned happily to Pitch, “Ready?”

 “No.”

 Jack smiled and led him to the first house.

            The rest of that night was not a pleasant one for Pitch. He spent hours crafting cute dreams about swans, talking dogs, presents under trees, and princesses,; giant bunnies, butterflies, and clouds with short pudgy men on them and brave knights on noble black stallions; Spaceships, tooth carrying fairies, and kittens. SO MANY KITTENS.

            With each new nightmare forced into a pleasant and safe dream, Pitch felt natural and instinctual reactions rebel. His concentration was divided. And divided again as he had to maintain each new dream. Each cluster of happily prancing ponies, or zooming rockets was embedded with extra power to keep them on their “proper” course. And each cluster sucked away at his power.

 As his strength was slowly siphoned off, he refused to stop. He refused to wipe his brow, refused to show any kind of weakness in front of the Guardian’s.

            Daybreak was a few hours away when it happened. Pitch felt his power detach. A true dream had burst forth from the center of his black sand and had soon engulfed it entirely. It was only a little thing, but he knew what it meant.

            “Jack,” he called. Jack turned towards him and stepped closer. The other Guardian’s turned their attention on the pair. Pitch nodded his head down the street. They all turned and saw a butterfly fluttering towards them. It was bright gold.

Tooth, Bunny and North couldn’t take their eyes off of the little thing. But their hearts were hammering in their chests, hope rising like a tidal wave.

 Bunny felt like he had gotten a little shock as if from static electricity.

“It’s working!” Tooth cried out happily.

“Bloody hell. Bloody fucking hell.”

“Look!” Tooth cried out pointing to a window in a house next to them.

A small golden dolphin dived out of the window and “swam” around them. Jack reached a hand up to touch it.

“Stop.” Pitch commanded through clenched teeth.

Jack looked at him curiously.

           “This is hard enough trying to keep them on their proper courses, don’t distract them. if I lose concentration they could revert back to nightmares. I won’t be able to do keep this happy dream theme going forever and we need all the dream sand we can get.” Jack nodded and lowered his hand.

Pitch eyed the dolphin and watched as it swam to the nearest house to help the transformation.

The dolphin flew up to a house across from them and swam through the window.

           Inside a small boy was sleeping while a vision of a black long necked dinosaur played over his head. The dolphin swam around the scene and touched the black sand. The gold began to eat up the black. The dolphin swam back out to the next house, while the dinosaur split into two then into four. They grew and three of them went out through the walls and toward the next houses. While the fourth stayed with the child happily hauling him around a park.

           Pitch watched as the gold sand spread everywhere and kept a sharp lookout for anything special. Unicorns pranced up and down the street and clusters of golden fish zoomed around houses, while giant sting rays floated lazily through town. _‘Any minute now.’_ His eyes darted left and right. He zeroed in on a clump of gold that was forming on top of a nearby hill. ‘ _There you are,’_ He stopped forming dreams and stumbled a little from the sudden seperation from his powers. He cloaked himself in the remaining dark sand trying to stabilize his depleted strength.

           Jack stood next to him and saw the way Pitch’s eyes were pointing, he caught site of the lump of gold. His eyes were shining “Look! Look!” The other Guardian’s turned and saw the sand gathering. Suddenly two thin lines of gold shot up from the lump.

Pitch saw the twin whips and sighed unhappily into the cool night air. _‘This is going to hurt.’_

Jack turned to him puzzled when he heard such a defeated sound.

Pitch took a few steps back, unable to not defend himself as the whips swung towards them. They shot forward and latched onto his wrists.

Jack looked at them in shock. His eyes rose to Pitch’s golden orbs. “Pit-”

Pitch was dragged forward towards the hill as Jack stared after his form for a surprised moment then chased after.

           Pitch could feel the burning in his wrists but knew he didn’t have the strength to fight a newly returned Sandman. He was dragged forward to the very base of the the cloud of gold, the sand shifted to reveal Sandy.

           He pulled Pitch up to his face by the hem of his collar and silently shook a finger in his face. Then landed a solid uppercut to the Bogeyman’s chin, launching the nightmare king up into the air.

           Jack was riding the wind when he saw Sandy viciously smash Pitch up into the sky and winced, _‘That had to hurt.’_ Somehow he had not expected the quiet man to be so violent. _‘But then again,’_ he mused _‘Pitch had murdered him.’_

           Jack flew up and snagged Pitch out of the sky, easily severing the golden tie that connected him to Sandy. Jack floated gracefully out of the sky towards the snow covered ground; Pitch draped across his arms. “Is the fair maiden unhurt?”

“Frost, if you don’t put me down right now, I’ll rip y-”

“Okay.” Jack smiled and released him, laughing as he plummeted down into the snow.

“Frost!” He roared. Jack landed ahead of Pitch and ran away laughing as he was chased around a cluster of snow covered trees.

Jack’s laughter seemed to come from everywhere, taunting him. Pitch chased him in between the trees. He rounded a corner snarling, “When I get a hold of you Frost-”

Pitch abruptly stopped when he nearly ran into Jack as he stood behind a tree.

“Yes?” Jack prompted “What will you do? “He floated on a puff of wind up to Pitch’s face and quickly pressed his cold lips to his.

           Pitch stood immobile, rage passing through him, quickly overshadowed by a different feeling. It was foreign somehow, old, so old but still familiar. He snagged Jack out of the air and crushed him to his chest kissing him soundly before he pulled away, “Whatever I want, wherever I want, whenever I want.” Jack laughed and Pitch slammed him into one of the trees and attacked his neck, loving the way Jack's laugh changed into a strangled groan of pleasure. Pitch stepped closer to him pressing him into the tree. Placing a knee in between Jack’s legs he pressed into him, listening hungrily to the inflections of Jack’s voice.

Jack snapped his eyes open and pushed off the tree knocking Pitch to the ground. “I think I'll start making those payments now.”

“You better, my interest rate is extremely high.”

Jack wrapped his chilled hands around Pitch’s wrists and created manacles of ice that were chained through the snow to the ground, holding Pitch in place.

Pitch's eyes were wide with surprise.

Jack laughed. “I learned that one from you.”

           He leaned down to attack Pitch’s mouth. He placed his cold hand’s on Pitch’s face and slid them up until they cupped teh back of his neck. Jack scraped his teeth across Pitch’s jaw and began sucking on his neck.

           Pitch closed his eyes at the sensation and had to hold himself back from taking control. After a moment or two, he realized that jack had initiated teh kiss. His mind seemed to expand at the thought of Jack wanting to kiss him, touch him, willing to stay. He swallowed once and said “I think this is best continued in a less public venue.” Jack stopped and looked up at Pitch then with a sinking feeling, at the four Guardian’s who were standing on the hill mouths opened.

He could hear North's deep voice plainly. “Holy hell.”

Jack’s eyes blazed as he flushed with embarrasement. “You’ll pay for that.”

Pitch’s eyes glinted as they fell through a portal and landed somewhere in the middle of the arctic.

“I thought you were the one making payments?”

           Jack looked around reorienting himself to the new environment and spotted his staff lying not far from them and then down at Pitch. He re-chained his hands to the ground and then thrust his hands down the front of Pitch's pants grasping his hardening member fully. “You’re right. Now, where were we?”


End file.
